Mary Jane Hanley won a battle with alcoholism that almost destroyed her otherwise idyllic life. Married to Jack W. Hanley, the former head of the Monsanto chemical corporation, with three accomplished children, her marriage was all but over until she admitted she was an alcoholic and got treatment at the Edgewood Center in St. Louis.

That treatment changed her life. Because of it, she and Jack endowed the Hanley Family Foundation with the intent of helping others fight alcoholism and chemical dependency. Now both in their 70s, they just recently passed on responsibility for the foundation to the next generation. Their son, John Jr., is chairman.

"Why Did You Start This Foundation?"

Impetus for making a record of why they created a family foundation came about when granddaughter Amy Hanley, 21, a junior at Vanderbilt University, took a seat two years ago on the foundation's board of directors. She wanted to do a good job and asked grandfather Jack to write down the details of the reasons why the foundation was created, and how its mission came to be.

Jack began writing, but soon realized that he wasn't quite capturing the passion behind the decisions. Then he heard of a foundation that made a video to explain to general audiences what its work is about and thought a video might do a better job of answering his granddaughter's question.

Jack turned to Higher Authority Productions in Bal Harbour, Florida, which specializes inproducing videos for nonprofit organizations. The result is "Our Story," a 30-minute-and quite moving-account of Mary Jane's alcoholism, the effects it had on the family, and Mary Jane and Jack's desire to help others recover.

One-on-one interviews with the Hanleys and their son Michael and daughter Susan, who describe the effect Mary Jane's drinking had on them, are tied together with old home movies and photographs of the family, including several scenes of Mary Jane with a drink in hand. It is clear through the interviews that upcoming generations need to "carry on [Mary Jane and Jack's] good work," and help fledging treatment programs. The video took approximately 90 days tomake and cost $10,000.

So participants would feel less inhibited, Jerrod Levine, president of Higher Authority Productions, and producer of the video, said he interviewed each person individually, rather than as a group, and filmed each in familiar surroundings. Levine's advice for those interested in producing a similar video includes:

• pinpoint what the goals are and who the audience will be,
  • have three or four meetings with participants to develop goals, objectives and visual elements of the video,
  • allow between 90-120 days to make it,
  • expect the price to range from $10-50,000, with the average being $25,000.

The video helped to answer Amy's question, which will help her be a better board member. But future generations of Hanleys will benefit from seeing it, too, she points out. "I want my future children to consider [Jack and Mary Jane's] passion as their heritage," she says, adding, "and, I want them to understand why the endowment money is not to buy a new car with."