Consider the "Faces of September 11" project, which used survivor and victim stories not just to grieve, but to lobby for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. The story of a firefighter’s widow was the hook; the ask was for Congressional funding.
Dr. Paul Slovic, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, coined the term "psychic numbing" to describe why we ignore mass tragedies. "The more who die," he wrote, "the less we care." However, Slovic also found that presenting a single, identifiable victim (a survivor with a name, a face, and a history) bypasses this numbing. Consider the "Faces of September 11" project, which