Special Love for Children with Cancer
Special Love Inc, has provided free camps and programs for children with cancer and their families across the DMV for more than 40 years.
"Dan has been an outstanding partner to Special Love. He quickly understood our mission and helped elevate our story in a way that led to meaningful media coverage, including local news features that expanded our reach and visibility. He's strategic, responsive, and truly invested in the success of the organizations he works with. We're so grateful for his partnership and the impact he's had on our ability to share our mission with a broader audience."
— Elena Jeannotte, Executive Director, Special Love Inc
The situation
Forty years of work, thousands of families served, and almost no media profile. Special Love's programs are visual, emotional, and locally rooted — exactly what broadcast news covers — and they weren't being covered.
What I did
- Discussed with the team to identify programs and family stories that had genuine news value.
- Developed the narratives and press materials around them.
- Ran direct outreach to broadcast outlets and other media contacts in two markets: the DMV area, where Special Love's families live, and north central West Virginia, where the winter camp was held.
- Conducted follow-up outreach with event photos for additional coverage.
The result
Coverage in two markets:
- NBC4 Washington — the Special Love Holiday Party, December 7, 2025
- WDTV 5 News — Winter Weekend at Canaan Valley, January 22, 2026
The NBC4 story put Special Love's families on camera in their own words and highlighted the incredible work of the organization, reaching audiences via local news coverage they had not received in many years.
The WDTV5 story ran on their website, featuring approved photos shared with them, and provided additional coverage to a new audience in West Virginia and additional content Special Love team could share via email and social media.
