Reporter Lisa Rathke in Vermont has documented the state’s severe flooding for years, responding to weather events even as her own home and life have been impacted. When flooding hit again this past summer, she went to work. Finding people who had lost everything, she hatched an idea to follow them as they tried to recover, knowing from the previous summer’s floods that rebuilding could take years. After finding willing flood victims, she spent months building a relationship and gaining their trust. She shot video on her iPhone, made pictures, and took detailed notes along the way. The family, with two teenage daughters, was hitting roadblocks, as is often the case, and they felt hopeless in their efforts to recreate the home the teenage girls had known their entire lives. But as Thanksgiving approached, their hope returned when support from friends, family and neighbors allowed them to raise enough money to put a down payment on a new home. Rathke put her video together, then worked with Caleb Jones and Rodrique Ngowi to produce the piece. Leading the week’s video engagement metrics for U.S. news, her hard work and dedication to digital first, visual storytelling paid off.
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