Commercial Spins Positive Message From Local Groups

Maybe you’ve already seen this heartfelt television commercial.

Words of peace flash on the screen. A gospel song says we are our grandmother’s prayers. There’s no narrative, just music and images of children.

“We are one: A message of peace,” is 30 seconds of locally produced hope encouraging everyone to focus on something positive.

Fed up with news of hate marches, bombs in schools and kids shooting kids, Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co. joined forces with the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center to do something positive.

The result is a 30-day run of the commercial several times a day on all three local affiliates. It began airing Monday, particularly around daily newscasts.

In all, Metropolitan Mortgage invested about $40,000 for production costs and air time.

For months, Metropolitan Mortgage has mulled plans to release a public message conveying hope and prosperity, said Erik Skaggs, who works in the government and community relations department.

“In my heart, I knew what Paul (Sandifur Jr., the CEO) and the company had to say,” Skaggs said.

The task was tricky. Skaggs didn’t want to ruin the message by pushing it too hard.

While he struggled, his co-worker, Karen Stratton, was forming an idea with the executive director of the MLK Center, Stacy Hersrud.

Hersrud wanted something simple and local.

She suggested the song “We Are,” from the Grammy Award-winning a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.

It’s become kind of a theme song for the center, Hersrud said.

The song in the commercial starts out like this: “For every child that is born,/ a morning star rises and sings to the universe who we are./ We are, our grandmother’s prayers./ We are, our grandfather’s dreamings./ We are, the breath of our ancestors.” It winds up with, “We are one.”

With an Aryan Nations march expected in Coeur d’Alene in July, Hersrud wanted to take an active stance.

“Oftentimes we focus on the things we don’t want and in doing that, we give them more energy and attention,” Hersrud said. “We want to focus on the things we do want.”

Stratton took the idea back to Skaggs and it hit a chord.

Stratton set up the community shots and still photos used in the commercial. Footage was used from several groups, including the graduation ceremony at the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program at the MLK center.

Metropolitan Mortgage helps underwrite several small publications, such as the Stonewall News, La Prensa and Diversity Magazine. Earlier this year, the company contributed money to save two youth summer programs that didn’t receive an expected city grant.

“They are taking a leadership role, not just internally, but externally in the community,” Hersrud said. “It’s about walking the talk.”

Metropolitan backed up their talk of diversity and inclusivity with funds.

“It speaks volumes. They could’ve spent the cash elsewhere,” Hersrud said. “This may be the corporate culture of the future.”