The need: Wreaths Across America is a national nonprofit organization based in Maine. Their mission is to remember and honor American veterans throughout the year, but especially on National Wreaths Across America Day. Wreaths Across America Day occurs one Saturday each December when millions of volunteers place balsam wreaths on the headstones of fallen American veterans at more than 4,000 locations across the country, including Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC.
The organization aims to honor veterans from all wars or conflicts - those who died while serving, or years after their retirement - as well as their families. In 2019, one Gold Star Mother, Cathy Powers, made it her mission to share her story of empowerment with the world - all while gathering $15 wreath sponsorships to reach her goal of 7,777 wreaths for Arlington National Cemetery, where her son, Bryce, is buried.
Though it is celebrated by millions nationally, Wreaths Across America is a grassroots nonprofit organization headquartered in the town Columbia Falls, Maine. The internal team at WAA is small, and the Communications Director sought Jordan as a trusted resource to manage communications around Cathy’s journey, which was identified as an critical media opportunity.
The process: Wreaths Across America has the unique challenge of requiring constant communication, not only with donors, but with partner organizations, corporate donors, and thousands of volunteers across the country who coordinate wreath-laying events each year. In addition to a role strategizing and managing all Wreaths Across America social media owned pages (since 2016), Jordan took on the role as public relations manager for Cathy Powers’ “Running Fir Wreaths” tour across the United States.
Cathy aimed to run 1,000 miles - some in all 50 states - in one year, sharing her story and collecting wreath sponsorships in each community that she visited. Each state visit required event coordinating, media outreach, interview coordinating and social media promotion, often with direct communication to military base personnel, national media and Cathy herself.
The story being told was Cathy’s, but the mission behind the story was that of Wreaths Across America. Jordan ensured the WAA brand was at the forefront of all “Running Fir Wreaths” messaging, documents, social media content and event imagery.
The result: Cathy completed her goal, and her story went viral. In addition to an average of 2-3 media hits in each of her 50 visited markets, Jordan pitched Cathy’s story to a contact at the NBC’s TODAY show. Cathy’s journey was featured in a multimedia package and an on-set interview during the third-hour of TODAY. For the first time in the organization’s history, the Wreaths Across America brand and mission were featured on the nationally broadcast morning show. Wreaths Across America’s efforts were again featured on the program in December of 2020.
