“.net/results,” New Era, May 2000, 12
Everyday Heroes:
.net/results
Through the Internet, this small-town girl is becoming a big-time influence for good.
Sitting on the set of a local TV talk show, Elise Jenkins thought she was going to lose it. Being on television wasn’t getting any easier for the shy 18-year-old, even though she’d already been on other TV and radio talk shows and appeared twice on the evening news.
“I really didn’t want to be on TV,” Elise says, “but in order to make my cause well known, it had to happen.”
What started out as a Laurel project for this small-town girl from Valley Springs, Arkansas, has turned into a worldwide effort that has thrust her into the public eye. The project? Show Hollywood producers that there is a market for G-rated versions of today’s popular movies. “Since they’re already making edited versions of movies for airlines, why not make them available to the public?” Elise says.
Elise’s novel idea is slowly spreading, and people from around the world are taking notice and lining up behind this otherwise bashful teenager. On her petition to Hollywood, Elise has so far gathered some 75,000 names—more than 370 times the number of people living in her hometown. She’s received at least one signature from every state in the union, as well as signatures and letters of support from as far away as China, Australia, Austria, Belgium, and England. “I even got a letter from Pago Pago,” says Elise. “Where on earth is that?”
Taking a stand
Elise’s story started four years ago as she was thinking of an idea for her Laurel project. “All the language, violence, and immorality in movies has always bothered me, so I thought trying to change things would be a good idea,” she says.
Elise mailed postcards to family and friends to see if they’d be interested in petitioning Hollywood. Few responded. Undaunted, Elise tried a high-tech road more traveled: cyber-space. “That’s how it started to spread,” she says.
In an e-mail message, Elise asked recipients to make copies of her petition, gather signatures to mail in, and then pass on her e-mail to others. Encouraged by the responses that started trickling in, Elise set an optimistic goal for the number of signatures she wanted: one million. “I know that’s a really big number, but I wanted something that could actually convince movie producers to change,” she says.
Despite her efforts, after five months Elise had only managed to get about 2,000 signatures. Just as her goal of one million names was beginning to seem utterly unattainable, Elise received a phone call that would drastically change the course of her campaign.
David Longhurst, a Church member from Port Angeles, Washington, had been impressed with Elise’s story after reading a Church News article about her. A professional Web site manager, David offered to create a Web page for Elise’s petition and to add it to his own nonprofit “Good Works” Internet site, at www.goodworks.net. The response was overwhelming.
“It took five months to get 2,000 names by mail; then it took five days to get 2,000 more through the Internet,” says Elise. “I remember one day David called, and he said he was getting signatures on the Web site something like one every five seconds.”
The publicity from the Internet also brought in more written responses: a stack of 821 signatures gathered by a young woman in Layton, Utah; 642 names from another girl in Ontario, Canada; 611 names from the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission. Nearly every day, Elise found herself carrying home a huge stack of mail from the post office.
Making a difference
Today, Elise loves to look through the scrapbook she’s compiled of all the letters she’s received from around the world. The messages inspire her:
“You have touched many people’s lives and may have made the difference in our society. Many people feel the way you do.”
“Hooray for you! It’s wonderful to see someone do something I’ve been thinking needs to be done for a long time.”
“A few people may not make much of a difference except to themselves, but if everyone who feels this way will act upon their convictions, it will make a difference.”
Elise says she’s been amazed at the enthusiasm and numbers of the responses she’s received. As she continues her crusade, she doesn’t know whether she’ll make her goal of a million names, but she does know she’s provided an avenue for many people to take a stand for what they believe in. “I’ve been trying to stand as a witness of Christ and encourage others to do the same.”
And no matter what happens when her petition reaches Hollywood, Elise says she’s learned a powerful lesson: “One person really can make a difference.”
Elise’s Web site has turned her Laurel project (a campaign for cleaner movies) into a worldwide effort.
“I had no idea I’d get this kind of response,” says Elise as she looks through her scrapbook of letters. Overwhelmed by all the mail, Elise has enlisted family members to help her log stacks of petitions.