GO Givers

Seven People. Thousands upon thousands of hours. One community. GO Magazine salutes those who are making a difference in Springfield.

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Jamie Dopp

A bustling volunteer in her free time, KY3’s community outreach guru makes sure the station’s viewers know how they can help Springfield, too.

In a business known for fake, toothy smiles, Jamie Dopp may get more genuine affection than anyone as she walks through KY3’s studio and home offices on West Sunshine. Soft-spoken and devoted to her job, the mother of two is responsible for keeping the station on top of Springfield’s sizeable not-for-profit community. She oversees KY3 Cares, the station’s public service arm, and does much of the camera work, editing and producing for PSAs herself. “I’m a one-person department,” she says with modest pride. One of her spots, recorded last year, recently won the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation’s Service to America Award. The ad, in which two Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers’ wives talk improvastionally about their husbands, who were killed in the line of duty, was her idea. “If I had used a script [or an anchor] I don’t think it would have had quite the impact their raw emotions did,” Jamie says.

Other KY3 efforts include the Storybreak program, where anchors and other employees go to library branches and read to kids. Jamie, 31, says her position is the only one of its kind at a TV station in the Ozarks.

Off the clock, Jamie is a volunteer for the American Heart Association and she and husband Steven—they met at a Muscular Dystrophy camp, where else?—spend a lot of time with A Sporting Chance, which gives disabled and at-risk kids in the community a chance to play sports (“It’s larger than Special Olympics, but not as well known,” she says.) Jamie also helped organize the Springfield Ad Club’s most recent Addy Awards.

Why she gives: “It started at the MDA camps, the kids taught me more than I think I was giving. It’s a big reward for me, and I hope to raise my kids around persons who are different from them.”

Get involved like Jamie

KY3 Cares: For information on KY3 Cares, Storybreak schedules and more, contact Jamie at 417-268-3018.

American Heart Association (Springfield Chapter): 2446 E Madrid St., 417-881-1121, americanheart.org (click on “ways to give”)

A Sporting Chance: 1850 E. Meadowmere St., 417-881-7373, asportingchance.net

Muscular Dystrophy Association: 425 S. Union Ave., 417-866-5117, mda.org