As part of a special ABC News and USA Today voter-opinion series, an ABC News “Nightline” crew spent 48 hours in late September in Anniston, interviewing participants in Calhoun Baptist Association’s Christian Women’s Job Corps (CWJC).
The series, “50 States, 50 Days,” is airing on all national ABC News outlets prior to the 2008 presidential election and provides a random sampling of thoughts and perspectives that voters across America have about the upcoming election.
“Nightline” correspondent John Donvan said the features are not designed to give a balanced representation of support for each candidate but rather a “spoon-dip” view of voter opinions from each state. To get representation from Alabama, he chose to visit CWJC’s $15 fashion show, held Sept. 27 at Greenbrier Road Baptist Church, Anniston.
Donvan said he scanned the Internet, searching for an event or group to represent Alabama in his piece. That’s how he spotted a local newspaper’s public service announcement about the fashion show.
“I wanted to find people working on something together for a particular cause,” Donvan said. “I liked the fashion show because it was a cause that required a certain level of commitment and demonstrated an expression of values.”
A ministry of national Woman’s Missionary Union, CWJC is an educational and spiritual mentoring program that teaches life skills, such as planning meals and dressing for job interviews, to women in need.
“Our purpose is helping women in need move from a life of hopelessness to a life of helpfulness,” said Mary Stinson, a founding member of Calhoun Association’s 2-year-old CWJC.
Held every other year, the fashion show and luncheon are a CWJC fund-raiser in which volunteers model and then auction $15 ensembles to demonstrate that dressing well for job interviews can be done on a meager budget.
The “Nightline” crew infused both tension and excitement into the event as the four members walked around the room, filming and interviewing participants.
“I was honored and in awe that [‘Nightline’] would choose to cover our little event and our little town,” said Delana Gilmore, fashion show organizer and Calhoun Association’s communications coordinator. She estimated that 100 attended the fund-raiser. Ticket sales and the silent auction generated $2,850 for CWJC.
While Millicent Monk, CWJC site coordinator, was concerned about the television show’s motivation in covering the event for the voter-opinion series, she described Donvan and the crew as polite and down-to-earth.
Fashion show model Gerri Clayton, a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Alexandria, allowed Donvan to interview her at home the previous day. Before the interview, Clayton called family, friends and her pastor, Garry Ragsdale, to ask for prayer support.
“This was an experience I probably won’t ever get to have again, and I just wanted to represent Christ and Alabama well,” she said.
Clayton said Donvan sought her opinions on presidential candidates, national issues and the current president and then asked her to reveal for whom she planned to vote.
“I told him I would not say who I was voting for but that I (am) conservative,” Clayton said. “I told him that my pastor told us to pray about who to vote for and that, ultimately, it was God’s decision.”
Donvan’s nearly five-minute piece on Alabama can be viewed online at abcnews.go.com. It did not make the TV time slot due to breaking news when it was supposed to air.
Share with others: