St. Helens, Oregon – Find us on the Map
If you would have asked me where the city of St. Helens was in July of 2013, my best guess would have been Washington State. “Oh, that’s the city where the volcano exploded in the 1980’s right? I’m so smart for remembering that.” But all of that has changed as I sit here in January of 2014. Now, I not only know that the community is actually in Oregon, and was named for its great views of Mount Saint Helens, but I advocate for and promote the many positive attributes of the community.
I work in Columbia County, specifically St. Helens, Oregon. In addition to me, there are three other RARE AmeriCorps Program – Resource Assistance for Rural Environments members in the city. Recognizing this opportunity to pool our efforts, my supervisor, Chuck Daughtry, suggested that we come together for a project. It was really a great idea. So we all met at Sunshine Pizza, in Oregon, (the land of no sunshine), to discuss what we could do to benefit the community. An idea that came from the meeting was to create a YouTube channel that highlighted what was great about the city, promote the businesses in the area, and put St. Helens, Oregon on the map, sort of speak. I couldn’t be the only one who thought St. Helens was on a different side of the river. Having no skills in videography, no experience with viral videos, we decided to take on the challenge.
After several initial meetings, we came to the conclusion that there would be five different aspects to the video channel:
- Business Insider
Shorts about successful local businesses helping to showcase why they are unique and provide marketing - Hearts of the Community
A look at the volunteer work being done in the community by not for profit organizations - Parks and Recreation
A glimpse into outdoor life in the city - History
Looking at specific organizations and historical events in the city and hoping to tell a story - Annual Events
A calendar full of events is an opportunity to film great shots
To date, we have released four videos and it has been an awesome experience. My main concern in starting this project was that we wouldn’t be able to create something that would make the community proud. This hasn’t been the case at all. Most, if not all, the feedback we have received has been positive. Businesses want to be on our channel to market what they offer the city and beyond. The historical society curator wants to do a video with our group. Our videos have been linked to and displayed on other community promotion efforts. It has become more than I ever expected. The plan is to continue to release videos twice per month until the of end our AmeriCorps stint. Hopefully, at that point the system in place will be taken over by someone new! I am really happy to be part of showcasing a great rural community.
Link to the ‘We are St Helens’ video channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/wearesthelens
About the Author: Andrew Barbier received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science with a History Emphasis from McKendree University and he went on to work with Quiktrack Inspections and Audit as a Quality Analyst where he inspected reports for banks, credit unions, and loan agencies. Andrew applied to the RARE AmeriCorps Program in hopes of further developing a skill set that will allow him to find work in his most desired career field – planning and community development.
Andrew is placed with Columbia County Economic Team, where he is collaborating with an array of organizations and businesses to restore Columbia County’s economy. He is helping to create a working database of zoning information for businesses to utilize when carrying out preliminary sighting activities and working with an array of community partners to create a YouTube channel devoted to the publicity and marketing of the St. Helens community.