Shane Hoffman-Editing Is a Pain But Radio Does Have Its Perks

Story telling is a process. I just keep telling myself that. Yet, even so, it was tough at me at times to see what my professor Kyle refers to as "my baby" get ripped to shreds in about eight different edits. I thought I had such great sentences, an intro, and a conclusion, yet all of them got changed. At first I was disappointed, even a little hurt, but now that I've been able to see the final script I can appreciate all of the edits. It's still a process that takes some getting use to and like last week with my story, I needed to be humbled and I'm a better man and journalist for it.

On the bright side of things I am thankful for being in radio because I snagged at least two interviews I know of in which the interviewee told me "I'm only doing this because it's not for TV." I guess people like hearing their voices on air better than seeing their faces on TV. Who would have thought?

Overall, I liked this feature a whole lot better than the last one and I am confident that as the semester progresses I'm going to improve my story telling ability and professionalism as a journalist.


Safety Net Programs Struggling To Meet Need


As food and utility prices continue to rise across the country, more people are turning to non-profit organizations to meet families’ basic needs.

Ebony Brooks is a Columbia resident who has come to the CMC in need of assistance.

“Today I’m trying to get assistance for my gas bill cause it’s very high,” Brooks says. “You have to make decisions on what’s important and like, you need gas you need lights you need water. So it’s hard to decide you know. You have to have food. You have to keep a roof over your head.”

Brooks’ concerns are resonating across the region. Thousands of people are coming to Mid-Missouri safety net programs, like CMCA. CMCA’s Energy Coordinator Melody Rodriguez says the demand for assistance has more than doubled in the last year. Rodriguez says her organization has spent nearly a million dollars on crisis assistance in the last four months.

“The increase for the demand, my fear is to run out of money and not be able to serve the community,” Rodriguez says. “As the economy worsens we predict more families will come to us for help.”

The CMCA receives some of its funding from the federal government, but other safety net programs like the Salvation Army, rely almost completely on donations.
The non-profit has served nearly 1,000 more people compared to this time last year.

Major K. Kendall Mathews, Columbia and Jefferson City’s Regional Coordinator for the Salvation Army, says the organization has already had to request additional resources to meet the higher need.

“We’ve increased our poundage at the food bank drastically because of the needs for food and the need to distribute food to people,” Mathews says. “That basic need is an essential need of life.”

Red Cross officials say the financial crisis has yet to hit the non-profit as hard as the CMCA or the Salvation Army, but that has not stopped the organization from preparing for the worst.

Mike Odneal, the Executive Director of the Mid-Missouri Red Cross, says if donations drop they’ll keep on going.

“Typically we will do whatever we can do regardless of the funds and the situation that we have,” Odneal says. “In fact nationally, when we’ve had national disasters, the Red Cross has even undertaken loans in order to provide the assistance that is needed across the country.”

The federal stimulus package recently signed by President Obama may relieve some of the pressure on these organizations by offering assistance to laid off workers.

If more people start benefiting from the stimulus, CMCA officials say safety net spending could shore up services to people like Ebony Brooks, who for now says she is happy she has someone she can depend on when her back’s against the wall.