By Morgan Bryce
Associate Editor
This is the third and final installment of a three-part series on how the community can benefit through utilizing the “Village Creed,” an Opelika/Lee County-based public benefit corporation designed to connect individuals and organizations to services, volunteer opportunities and needs present in the Opelika-Auburn area.
Through a new initiative called the “Village Creed News Wire,” organizations utilizing the Village Creed will be able to share their events and postings with local media outlets to reach an even broader audience in their respective communities.
Media organizations like the Opelika Observer are partnering with the platform in this effort, which will provide them with a daily updated feed of newsworthy events and programs in their area that might be of interest to their followers, readers or subscribers.
“This will enable local media organizations to create stories and provide information based upon the good work that’s happening among local organizations. Those organizations could be churches, nonprofits, (or) schools,” said Village Creed Founder Kermit Farmer. “Service organizations want to be found and they deserve every opportunity for people to connect with them. This will help generate more exposure for their cause and purpose.”
Farmer added that this will benefit local individuals seeking ways to connect and give back to their community.
“Individuals will be able to crack open a newspaper or watch on television and see the opportunities that are out there. We believe stronger connections create stronger communities,” Farmer said. “It helps all involved who want to see community improvements. We have an amazing community now, and there’s many in this community who are working to improve and strive to make it better. This gives us one more tool, an aggregate tool, to know who is doing what and to help organizations to be found.”
Perhaps the best feature for individuals utilizing the platform according to Farmer is their ability to search by interest or keyword. When one saves these preferences in their personal profile, this information populates on a pinmap to create a custom user experience. Timely event or story information and links, along with points of contact, will be attached with each posting featured in the Village Creed News Wire. This will enable content producers or reporters to easily reach the correct employee or division within an organization to gather information for news or stories.
“Selecting stories or content to turn into news will be solely up to the media agency. Each news entity will be able to choose the theme or style that’s in keeping with the audience they know and what they think they like to hear about,” Farmer said.
Through a media’s utilization of the news wire, Farmer said that organizations will be able to maintain a stronger presence and voice in their respective communities and that the calendar of events will help individuals to be more aware of needs and services existing in their area.
Farmer and his team are actively implementing this tool in areas affected by Hurricane Michael in portions of Alabama, Florida and Georgia to assist with disaster and recovery relief. Details are available on the home page of the organization’s website: www.villagecreed.com.
For more information, email kermit@villagecreed.com or visit www.villagecreed.com/about. The agency is based in the Collaboration Station, which is located at 216 S. 8th St. in downtown Opelika.