Snapchat for #SocialGood - In All 50 states.
Hi, I’m Chris Strub, and I’m a doer.
This summer, I visited youth organizations in all 50 states over the course of 100 days. I left my job and my apartment in Greenville, S.C. on May 15, and circled the country, finishing the trip in Asheville, N.C. on Aug. 21, two days shy of my 30th birthday.
I tried really hard to find sponsorship for this adventure before I left, because I thought it would be a terrific opportunity for a brand, or brands, to support positivity and #SocialGood around the country.
I failed. But I wasn’t going to let not having a sponsor stop me. So I went anyway.
I’ve been featured for being the first person to live-stream in all 50 states — mostly on Meerkat — but I also used Snapchat in all 50.
The most important part of my Snapchat use was the interviews, all of which you can view here. I’m a journalist at heart, and recognized that I could use Snapchat’s video tools to conduct concise, entertaining interviews with the organizations — and many of the kids — along the way. You can watch ALL of the interviews on my Facebook page here.
But hey, who has time for videos? I encourage you to watch them, obviously, but today, I’m going to share screenshots from all 50 states. I’ll even throw in a bonus one from Alaska and Hawaii, since those are the states you’re most likely to not have seen.
Some of these photos are more “boring” than others. It’s tough to plan and execute a solo 50-state, 100-day road trip, so I tried to be as creative as possible along the way, but I hope you’ll cut me a bit of slack. Each one of these photos — plus the 1000+ in my phone — has a story behind it, and before I show them to you, know that I would be extraordinarily eager to connect with you on any social media platform to tell you more about it.
I promised no videos in this post, but I did want to share one from Honolulu and remind you that you can see ALL of these interviews on my Facebook page. If you go, please do me a favor and ‘like’ the page as well!
So if you’re still reading at this point, awesome. I’d like to think the story is fairly compelling, because I put every bit of energy and passion I had into creating it. I’d mention again that the trip might’ve been a bit easier if I’d had some sort of sponsorship, but it almost feels more exciting that it wasn’t. Let’s keep going!
If you’re still reading here, great! I know this is a long piece, but I hope the story is compelling, especially because I did start to physically run out of gas as I hit an exhaustive stretch of six states in seven days as we kicked off August. As a reminder, you can watch all of my interviews at every organization I visited on my YouTube channel, and if you’re with any kind of media organization, and you want to help me amplify this story — let’s do it.
That’s my story, in Snapchat screenshot form. Fifty states, 100 days, and most importantly, 60 youth organizations — with no sponsorship, although not for a lack of trying.
As always, my immense gratitude to everyone — viewers, followers, fellow streamers, organizations, businesses, Brian Fanzo @iSocialFanz for being my biggest fan, and especially everyone who’s donated in some capacity during and since the trip. The book is in the works — I paused working on it to piece this together for Ben — but you’ll be able to find it at www.TeamStrub.com sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can see the full list of all the youth orgs I visited, as well as links to all the media, and if you feel so compelled, you can click ‘donate’ to make a contribution.
Finally, hey — add me on Snapchat. I’m @ChrisStrub and, although I’m not currently painting windows in Missoula, spreading mulch in Anchorage or sleeping in my backseat in Iowa, I hope my story is still a compelling one. I hope there’s much more fun to come ahead, and if you have any ideas on how to make that happen, keep in touch: chrisstrub@gmail.com.
Want more? Enjoy this YouTube video of the Grand Finale in Asheville, N.C.