Help a nonprofit, help the community

By Ashley Bradley

Most of the organizations the public relations program works with are located in the Chico community; however, some such as the Paradise Center for Tolerance and Nonviolence require interns to travel outside of Chico in order to benefit the greater north state community.

The PCTN is a grassroots nonprofit organization that relies primarily on volunteers to do a lot of work, so they chose to tap into Chico State students as a resource.

“With Chico State right here we thought we should take advantage of the talent of the students,” said Susan Bordelon, PCTN director.

The PCTN has worked with several public relations interns, each of which were assigned tasks according to their skill level, Bordelon said.

The spring 2006 intern helped establish its annual fundraising event, Ridge Alive, and Adrienne Desimone, the spring 2008 intern, helped the PCTN by working at a booth on behalf of the organization at the Chocolate Festival in Paradise, Calif.

Desimone helped the PCTN by writing media materials, pitching to the media, helping with publicity and working directly with a professional graphic designer to create promotional materials. She designed a logo for one of the PCTN’s after-school programs and a banner for the organization’s Web site.

Desimone also contacted some local business owners in order to get donations for the silent auction at the Norton Buffalo Fundraiser Concert.

“Because they are young and enthusiastic they usually have a good rapport when they go out and talk to business owners,” Bordelon said.

Each of the PCTN interns benefits the community by helping a nonprofit organization that offers social services.

Because the public relations intern is helping the PCTN, they are helping the community, Bordelon said.

The fact that the PCTN is nonprofit and benefits the community is the reason Desimone chose to intern with the organization, she said.

“I have learned a lot about the area and the kinds of stuff minorities deal with,” Desimone said. “It makes me want to do more.”

Working with the PCTN requires each intern to be a self-starter, highly organized and able to work with various personalities and backgrounds.

To view examples of work interns have done for the PCTN, view the links below:

Events e-mail

Photos by: Laura Brown

PR in the Community Home Page