December 19th, 2001

Scotts Valley, CA - "Our mission at Sacred Heart Community Service is to minister with dignity, compassion, and respect, providing basic needs, and to provide the tools for self-sufficiency, and opportunities for volunteers to love, serve and share," resounds through the voices of customers, employees and volunteers of Sacred Heart Community Service (SHCS). To help with their fundraising efforts, Tam Communications produced a visually and emotionally moving piece about SHCS, first shown to contributors during a fundraising breakfast on December 6. The goal of the project is to relay the difficulties SHCS is having in meeting basic needs due to the economic downturn in the wake of September 11. SHCS began seeing a drastic reduction in contributions beginning in September, especially stocks and reduced gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Beginning the piece with its mission, the story moves into a brief history of SHCS and then turns to the different people who have been touched by SHCS, from volunteers to employees, and most importantly, to customers. You see volunteers who get up at the break of dawn to collect groceries from local supermarkets, groceries that are sorted and distributed at Louise's Food Pantry. You see customers leaving with bags full of much needed, donated clothing and blankets from Gracie's Clothes Closet. You hear the stories of people whom SHCS has helped including one woman who almost lost her home after the death of her husband, an abused woman who had lost her children, and a young father who was laid off from an airline after September 11.

"Sacred Heart is not only a place for people to come to get help. It's a place of the heart," tells Jacqui Buchanan, Tam Communications producer. "That really comes across throughout the video and, it really moved all of us involved in the production."

With thousands of people coming through their doors every day, it is hard to help every person, but SHCS seems to accomplish this impossible feat.

"One of the biggest challenges in producing this piece was that we had too much information, too many extraordinary stories of people touched by Sacred Heart Community Service to fit in the short time restriction we had at the breakfast," says Buchanan, "However, we still accomplished our overall goal, which was to help them raise funds."

As a result of the fundraising breakfast, and in part to the video, Sacred Heart Community Service raised over a half a million dollars in support from this one-hour event. SHCS looks forward to continuing to use the video to help with future fundraising efforts.

"Tam Communications provided both heart and head for this project--our first ever-professional video," says Barbara Zahner, SHCS Executive Director, "Operating under a very tight deadline, their talented creative team caught the essence of Sacred Heart Community Service in a moving, concise and informative video. We are delighted with our partnership with Tam--and we are delighted with the results--more friends and funds to meet the basic needs of food, clothes, housing, jobs, and education for families who come to our doors."

Tam Communications is a leading digital media company, servicing corporate and entertainment clients by combining technical, creative, and communications expertise in the realms of video, interactive multimedia, and web. The company's expanding spectrum of original entertainment programming—developed for broadcast, cable, syndication, and other venues—airs worldwide. Tam Communications is a privately held company located in Scotts Valley, CA. Please visit our web site at www.tamcom.com.