August 31, 2006 | Read Time: 4 minutes
In the months after the terrorist attacks, David Paine and Jay Winuk, both public-relations experts, had an idea:
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What if the tragedy could inspire Americans to engage in some sort of community service on September 11 each year?
Informal discussions gave rise to more formal plans, and, in 2002, the duo created One Day’s Pay, a New York charity devoted to building a national culture of service.
“For us, the main question was, ‘What will become of 9/11?’” recalls Mr. Paine, the group’s president. “We wanted to try to make something positive come out of all of that terrible loss of life. Our goal was to transform the day back to a day of peace rather than one of horror.”
The key to that transformation, he says, was to harness the spirit of volunteerism that seemed to emerge in the first days after the tragedy by encouraging people across the country to perform a good deed of their choice. It was a simple concept, and one that, at least in theory, had widespread support, notes Mr. Paine.
September 11 “touched the lives of almost everyone, and our research shows that when you ask people if they’d be willing to engage in some sort of community service on that day, 80 percent of people say yes,” he says.
A recent survey conducted by the group supports that initial finding, says Mr. Paine. Forty-four percent of those polled said that their interest in volunteering had increased as a result of September 11. “That’s a significant number, I believe,” he says.
Still, turning an abstract commitment into actual volunteering wouldn’t be easy. When the group initially approached national organizations about joining the effort, even those with a longstanding commitment to volunteerism were unresponsive, recalls Mr. Paine.
“They saw 9/11 as a distraction,” he says.
Even individuals and organizations who rallied behind the concept of One Day’s Pay, he says, were often confused by the charity’s name, believing that they were being asked to make a donation of a day’s wages or that companies were being asked to close on that day.
To confront these early growing pains, the charity relied heavily on volunteer labor and donated services and goods from public-relations firms and other corporations. Since its founding, the group has brought in nearly $1-million in such donations, along with approximately $400,000 in cash, including a $100,000 donation from Mr. Paine and his wife. Money raised is spent on running and promoting events to promote volunteerism, among other activities.
And when its national campaign proved overly ambitious, the group scaled down its efforts, appealing to one city in which its message would seem to have a natural constituency: New York.
“We started test-marketing our programs to see what worked and what didn’t,” says Mr. Paine.
In the weeks before September 11, the group ran ads on local radio and television stations in the city, then measured the number of pledges that appeared on its Web site. “We learned that radio is much more effective than TV, which doesn’t have the same call to action,” says Mr. Paine.
In each of the past three years, says Mr. Paine, roughly 100,000 people have registered online, pledging to volunteer. This year he expects to double that.
This month, the charity changed its name to My Good Deed. People who wish to participate are encouraged to go to the group’s new Web site and post their planned volunteer activity for September 11. The new site, says Mr. Paine, has been logging upward of 20,000 visits per day. “These aren’t pledges,” he acknowledges, “but they show the interest.”
While the charity provides some suggested good deeds — last year’s campaign was largely aimed at aiding victims of Hurricane Katrina, for example — any and all forms of volunteerism are encouraged, says Mr. Paine, who estimates that close to one million people will participate in some way this year.
Despite the name change, however, he insists that the group’s purpose remains largely unaltered: “Our original mission was always that we wanted people to do something good for someone else on 9/11, re-enacting how we all responded on that day.”
