We just finished premiering our latest round of six BUZZ in Birmingham episodes on Alabama Public Television. Watch now on demand to see how we highlighted and helped the nonprofits Nurse-Family Partnership, United Ability, Small Magic, College Choice Foundation, and the Alabama Association of Nonprofits!
We thank The Daniel Foundation of Alabama and Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation for providing the grants that underwrote our production costs.
Join our free Watch Party on October 10, 5:30 pm Central, at Red Mountain Theatre Arts Campus when we preview our newest episodes of BUZZ television show highlighting and helping nonprofits in Birmingham, Alabama!
The Watch Party will include hors d’oeuvres, cash bar … and an opportunity for the greater Birmingham community to meet and greet the stars in our shows and learn more about their missions: Nurse-Family Partnership, United Ability, Small Magic, College Choice Foundation, and the Alabama Association of Nonprofits’ Micro-Film Initiative.
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“You mean my Dad won’t be here on my marry day?”
These were 4-year-old Caroline Bennett’s first words when she learned her father, a Birmingham Police officer, had been shot and killed.
Though Robert Bennett died in 2004, his legacy lives on thanks to the nonprofit we’re featuring in our first “BUZZ in Birmingham” episode that aired December 15, 2023, on Alabama Public Television (and simultaneously on our YouTube channel).
Children of Slain Police Officers, aka COSPO, provides college scholarships to children whose parents were killed in the line of duty while serving in the Birmingham Police Department. In 2023, COSPO funded $100,000 in college expenses for students whose fathers died.
New to BUZZ is marketing pro Swell Fundraising, which helps COSPO reimagine its name and brand to better serve officers’ families for years to come.
Coming up on BUZZ on Alabama Public Television:
Dec. 22 at 8:00 pm
Studio by the Tracks
At this nonprofit in Irondale, the autistic meets the artistic. This studio and gallery provides a social network and career path that enriches the lives of artists who have autism and betters the community. Swell Fundraising donates its time and talent to help Studio by the Tracks achieve more … buzz.
Dec. 29, 7:30 pm & Dec. 31, 1:00 pm
Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama
America was founded on hope and opportunity. And for folks from Hispanic countries, that dream is as alive today as ever. But navigating a foreign land and language is hard and not for the faint of heart. Thankfully the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, or ¡HICA! is full of heart. A community development and advocacy organization, HICA champions economic equality, civic engagement, and social justice for Latino families.
Jan 5 at 8:30 pm
Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank
Food, shelter … diapers? Too many low-income mom and grandmothers in Alabama have to make the hard choice between diapers and utilities, clothing, even medicine. Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank each month distributes more than 150,000 free diapers and other essential products to 3,300 low-income families in Central Alabama. Martin Advertising / Martin Retail Group steps up to provide Bundles with a lot of marketing help — and hope.
Many thanks to the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation for helping underwrite our production.
News Release
September 25, 2023 (Roanoke, Va.) – Virginia Tech star basketball players Elizabeth Kitley and Sean Pedulla – along with Hokies football coach Brent Pry and women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks – are featured in the Season 4 premier of BUZZ on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. on Blue Ridge PBS.
Airing every Wednesday, BUZZ features the great work of nonprofit organizations in Southwest Virginia, and the marketing professionals affiliated with the American Advertising Federation of Roanoke who donate their time and talent helping charities attract more people to their cause.
The Season 4 premier – the 36th episode of BUZZ – stars The Hokie Way, a nonprofit that creates opportunities for Virginia Tech student-athletes to leverage their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in support of other charitable causes, such as Feeding Southwest Virginia, LifeRing Foundation, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia.
“Since launching in 2020, we’ve been fortunate to feature nearly 50 organizations that represent the breadth and depth of charitable work in our communities: arts and culture, homelessness, literacy, outdoors recreation, suicide prevention, intellectual disabilities, and now college athletics,” said Michael Hemphill, BUZZ creator and host. “Our communities are strong because of nonprofits. We’re honored to share their missions on public television throughout Virginia and provide them with valuable marketing resources to help them create more buzz.”
Other Season 4 BUZZ episodes in development are Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary in Floyd County; RAMP (Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program); and Arts Connect Neighbors in Roanoke.
All BUZZ episodes are available on demand at buzz4good.com/episodes. Hemphill also hosts the weekly radio show Buzz4Good! – interviewing nonprofit leaders throughout Southwest Virginia – on Saturdays at 4 p.m. on WFIR. Previous episodes are available on buzz4good.com/podcast.
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Contact:
Michael Hemphill | Creator of Buzz4Good
buzz4good.com | michael@buzz4good.com | 540.556.2879
@buzz4good on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn
Watch our 31st episode of BUZZ featuring Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley that originally aired May 3, 2023, on Blue Ridge PBS …
For most people, the ability to read and write comes so naturally that we forget they are skills we had to learn as a child. But for immigrants who don’t know English, and native-born individuals who perhaps struggled in school, those letters on a page are literally a foreign language. From navigating our healthcare system and the DMV to simply wanting to read to a grandchild, a lack of literacy can be crippling.
Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley provides tutoring and classes to teach adults how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers — which in turn provides people the power to lift themselves out of poverty, lower health care costs, find and keep sustainable employment, and ultimately change lives.
But the nonprofit’s brand is clunky — LVNRV — and suggests it serves volunteers rather than people who need help reading. Coming to the rescue once again on BUZZ are our rebranding magicians from Wordsprint.
We thank 100+ Women Who Care NRV for sponsoring the production of our episode!