In August 2005, Patricia Jones watched TV coverage of Hurricane Katrina gathering strength and heading directly towards the Gulf Coast. Knowing the suffering of animals would be unbearable, she tracked down the former Director of United Animal Nations, a nonprofit that rescued animals in disasters whom Patricia had profiled for NBC News a year earlier. The former director of UAN had just formed a nonprofit called Noah’s Wish
and was planning to head to the Gulf coast with a team of volunteers and the $1,000 in the fledgling group’s bank account.
Two days before Katrina made landfall, Patricia booked the founder of Noah’s Wish on a live satellite interview on CNN to discuss preparations for rescue operations in Louisiana. That was the beginning of what would become an unprecedented animal rescue effort.
For the next three months, Patricia worked single-handedly around the clock to book Noah’s Wish staff for media interviews
Patricia hired and directed photographers and videographers to document the work of animal rescuers based in Slidell, Louisiana. She appealed to the owners of a press release distribution service and secured free press release distribution for the nonprofit. She also fielded calls from desperate pet owners seeking information on lost animals, assisted with logistics to transport donations and worked with multiple corporations and individuals on fundraisers for the disaster relief effort
As a result of Patricia’s media relations coverage (the nonprofit had no established direct mail list, major donors or corporate funders) $8 million in donations was raised in three months.
Media Coverage for Noah's Wish Included:
- Noah’s Wish was featured in at least 22 programs on the major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC.
- Over 230 articles in national daily newspapers reaching over 30 million readers
- Over 120 articles in weekly newspapers reaching over 930,000 readers
- Articles appeared in over 30 major national magazines reaching over 2,557,000 readers
- Noah’s Wish was included in over 443 articles on major websites