It was the kind of deeply heartwarming, unanticipated outcome we love to hear about at Axiom News.
A team member with an organization we’ve been working with for several years called to say that one of our stories has been a vital link in reuniting a man with his family after 54 years apart.
“If that story hadn’t been published, Danny might have never been reconnected to his family,” Tony Matijiw of the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI) said.
The story that led to the reunion was one of the twice-weekly articles we, as BACI’s workplace news team, were publishing — stories of the people and happenings in the BACI community.
It was about how the man, Danny, had recently found a new lease on life, thanks to his own hard work and the support of various people, including BACI team members.
The headline read, “Danny turns over new leaf.”
The story would likely not have been picked up by mainstream media for various reasons, including not being considered quite broad enough.
It also didn’t quite fit the criteria of traditional public relations in the sense of being a “front-office” initiative or success.
But it perfectly fit part of our mandate as a generative news crew for BACI — a success story that had bubbled up from the BACI community.
One of the estranged family members happened to come across the article published online, suspected that the man being featured was her brother and typed a note to that effect in the comments tab below the story. This eventually led to an in-person meeting between Danny and two of his siblings who flew in from their respective homes in Winnipeg, Man. and Kamloops, B.C. in early March.
Danny told me it was a very good meeting. “Emotional, but good,” he said. A card signed by different family members had lots of comments about how blessed they felt to have their brother back in their lives. They definitely plan to keep connected.
As an outreach worker, it’s extremely gratifying to see this kind of outcome, Tony said.
“You try your best and some situations work out and some don’t, and you see a lot of ups and downs.
“So to see a situation like this turn out the way it does, it’s really uplifting for us too.”
And if there’s anyone deserving of such an outcome, it’s Danny, he added.
Given both his difficult past and the fact that Danny has always tried hard to do the right thing in spite of it, “it’s good to see that he has been given some opportunities and he’s gotten something back from it and he’s reunited with his family,” Tony said.
It’s true, something other than one of our news stories could have sparked this reunion.
Then again, maybe not. It hadn’t happened in 54 years.
One never knows.
I think at the very least this experience is just one more bit of proof that the work we’re doing here at Axiom News — partnering with social-mission organizations like BACI to celebrate their champions and successes and convene new conversations — does spark new connections and inspirations which flow into all kinds of positive outcomes we could have never predicted.
Related: Family reunites after 50 years
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