It started with a map. A pack of push pins. But mostly, a desire to find the good during a very bad time. The latest video in Dillon Hill’s Live for Another documentary series does just that – and then some – by tracking down positive stories of people helping people during the pandemic. And it may be just what the world needs right now.
Overwhelmed by the constant flow of negative news stories and motivated by Fred Rogers’ sage advice to “always look for the helpers” in a crisis, Hill set out to find examples of individuals in his hometown who were lending a hand and then interviewed them via computer. The project soon took on a life of its own as he extended his reach to the rest of the United States and then the world – tracking each story by location by pinning a photo of the interviewee on a map in his room.
There was the man who traveled to Amish settlements to alert them to the virus. The person dressed as Spiderman who visited neighborhood kids from a distance. The content creator who aired silly videos to make people laugh. The woman who made hundreds of masks from her home sewing machine. And on and on and on. Interviewees also shared words of wisdom and encouragement throughout the film, like: “things start to change when you start to care,” it’s going to be okay”, and we’re in this together.”
Probably the most heart-tugging part of the video though is when things comes full circle. It turns out the first person interviewed by Hill, created the mask worn by Hill’s mom, who is a nurse dealing with COVID-19 patients. The video concludes with Hill adding a photo of a healthcare worker from every country in the world to his map packed with nothing but positivity.
“The film grew from a desire to reconnect to kindness, put faces to the names of doers of good deeds, and incorporate a map to show how united we all really are,” said Hill.
Hill, himself, knows a thing or two about helping people. He is the same individual who garnered international media coverage a few years back when he dropped out of college to help his childhood friend, Chris, who was battling cancer complete his bucket list and made a documentary from it. One of the items on the list was to break the world record for the most bone marrow donation sign-ups and because of the amount of publicity around their story, over 11,000 people joined the bone marrow registry, resulting in a match for Chris that saved his life.
“After that experience, I knew that I would use filmmaking to help others and bring people together,” he said.
Other recent documentaries by Live for Another include a road trip across the United States to donate to dozens of children’s hospitals; buying billboards to help a Stage 4 cancer patient achieve her dream of being on Ellen; and renting an entire movie theater so cancer patients could watch Avengers: Endgame for free. All Live for Another’s documentaries are funded through donations from its Bucketeers at monthly subscription levels of $3, $10 and $35.
To watch this new video on YouTube visit https://liveforanother.com/
