WEIU-TV will broadcast their latest project, “Charleston: This is Our Story,” focusing on the residents of the Charleston community and their unique stories, on Thursday.

In fall 2014, WEIU featured a similar project, focusing on the residents of Effingham, followed by a story about Mattoon residents last semester.

Ke’an Armstrong, a publicity promotion specialist for WEIU, said the project is a way to reach out to the Charleston community.

“WEIU-TV’s ‘This is Our Story’ project is a way for us to connect with the communities we serve as well as a way to allow those communities to tell their stories,” Armstrong said. “We asked the local residents to serve as our ‘storytellers’ for the production.”

Armstrong said the locals grabbed all sorts of equipment, including video cameras, cell phones, GoPros and any other video recorder they could find.

“We took it from there, editing their contributions into our final production,” Armstrong said. “Every participant was instrumental in forging a partnership between WEIU-TV and their town.”

The idea came from a community event held in June, where residents told some of their stories.

“We started with a community event in June where local folks were invited to sign up to take part as a storyteller,” Armstrong said. “The event was held at the Charleston Carnegie Library, and we had over 60 people attend.”

Armstrong said since the event in June, over 40 stories were told as part of the project. These stories included people from the Five Mile House, Booth Library, the Coles County Health Department, the Charleston Carnegie Library, and the Charleston Historic Preservation Commission.

“This is a way to connect with the communities we serve,” Armstrong said. “WEIU-TV is creating a special program that is archiving history of the local towns, and we want people to tune in and watch, listen and learn.”

Armstrong also said after these types of programs are aired, people are able to learn more about their town.

“There have been so many people saying to us, ‘I have learned so much about my town’ after watching our previous programs,” Armstrong said. “We also stream the program on our website so friends and family out of town can watch as well.”

“Charleston: This is Our Story” will broadcast live on WEIU Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m.

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu.