Abby’s House: 40th Anniversary Video

Our Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) was to create a celebratory video for the 40th Anniversary of Abby’s House. This video celebrates the accomplishments and impact that Abby’s House has had in the Worcester community over the last 40 years. It will be shown at the Abby’s House Spring-tacular event in April 2016, as well as future fundraising events and celebrations held by Abby’s House.

Project Sponsor: Abby’s House

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Abby’s House is a housing and advocacy center for women in the Worcester Area. They provide low-cost housing, shelter beds, and various kinds of advocacy to the women they serve. Their mission to help homeless women, started with their founder, Annette Rafferty’s, mission to create a shelter for the homeless women of Worcester. Their first shelter building had nine beds and opened at 23 Crown street in 1976. Since then they have expanded to four buildings with 71 beds and seven two-bedroom apartments. To learn more about Abby’s House programs, and how to contact them for services or to volunteer, you can visit their website here.

Student Researchers:

  • William Beatty: Physics, 2017
  • Elizabeth Bliss: Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2017
  • Jordan Feeley: Computer Science, 2017
  • Arianna Smith: Chemical Engineering, 2017

Goals and Objectives:

Our ultimate goal was to create an engaging video for Abby’s House to use at fundraisers and other events in celebration of the good that they have done for nearly 13,000 women throughout the years. We did this through several stages of research and production:

  • Researched Abby’s House history through their own documents and public records like newspapers to understand the organization
  • Solidified the themes and message that the video will convey with Abby’s House staff
  • Collected old pictures and videos from Abby’s House to use in the video
  • Filmed interviews with current and former board members, staff, volunteers, residents, and guests of Abby’s House
  • Developed a story-board with Abby’s House staff
  • Edited footage into the final video
  • Delivered the video to Abby’s House staff for their Spring-tacular 2016 event

Final Report and Video:

For a more detailed account of our process you can read our project report:

Abby’s House: 40th Anniversary Project.