![[home]](/comm/images/usccb_logo.gif){kind=logo}
WASHINGTON (July 15, 1997) -- The message that A Little Time Makes a Big Difference will be blitzed throughout the media via a new series of public service messages from the Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC).
The ads, in TV, radio, and print format, are being distributed nationwide this month to inspire people to give their time where it's needed most. With simple vignettes, the PSAs will highlight the ordinary ways people can show extraordinary care for others.
The first wave of materials in the A Little Time Makes a Big Difference campaign is centered around a thirty-second television spot entitled "Dinner Date." A mini-drama enfolds as the audience listens in on a successful male executive scheduling a date. But what the audience assumes will be a romantic evening turns out to be something totally different. The busy executive's destination is the home of an elderly man clearly delighted to have his company and the special meal the executive prepares for him.
A second series of PSA materials will be distributed in September and a third and final wave in December.
This latest effort follows on the success of the CCC's two-year Good Values Make Great Kids campaign which reached a majority of U.S. adults with a message about the importance of teaching positive values to our nation's children.
The A Little Time Makes a Big Difference campaign will be distributed to approximately 3,000 U.S. television, radio and print media outlets in three "waves," with each wave consisting of 10- second and 30-second television spots, 15-second and thirty-second radio announcements and print ads in two sizes. Radio stations will also receive scripts that can be read live by their announcers. The second and third waves will include Spanish-language materials.
"Lack of time is cited by many Americans as the number one reason why they don't engage in regular community service activities," says CCC Director Ramón E. Rodriguez. "The CCC's 1997 PSA campaign stresses that even a little bit of time spent preparing food for the hungry, comforting the sick, or visiting the neglected can make a huge difference."
The A Little Time Makes a Big Difference campaign also suggests that time spent helping others can be a family activity. A recent study of Philadelphia area residents by the Pew Research Center found that individuals raised in homes where parents volunteered are much more likely to become volunteers themselves.
The distribution list includes national broadcast and cable networks, major television and radio stations and cable systems in the top 100 broadcast markets, and stations in smaller markets that have requested or aired previous CCC materials. Print distribution is limited to diocesan and national Catholic publications and those secular publications that have previously provided space.
The television PSAs will also be made available via satellite on the PSA Channel feed with takes place from 1:00-1:30 p.m. ET, on the third Thursday of every month at the following coordinates: Satellite GE1, Transponder 1, C-Band, Audio 6.2-6.8.
The Catholic Communication Campaign is an office of the United States Catholic Conference that initiates and supports media projects promoting positive values.