Case Study 1
A collaborative effort to raise a million pounds of food
Summary
Food4SA is the city’s largest food drive of the year with a goal of raising a million pounds of food for the Food Bank over the holidays. PfitzPR has coordinated Security Service Federal Credit Union’s involvement for the last four years.
The Challenge
Texas is the second most food insecure state in the country and carries the fourth highest rate of actual hunger. Every day, one in four children in Bexar County goes hungry and senior citizens are forced to choose between skipping a meal or getting their prescriptions. Every week, 25,000 people in Bexar County and 15 other South Texas counties must turn to the San Antonio Food Bank and its partner agencies to find a meal. Goals for Food4SA are to:
• To raise a million pounds of food in November for the needy in our community.
• To support the San Antonio Food Bank during one of its busiest and most critical times of year.
• To provide an avenue for the generous charitable giving of Security Service FCU member owners.
Implementation
PfitzPR has worked to increase media cooperation for this event by forging collaborative agreements with Clear Channel Communications and Cox Radio. In addition, PfitzPR works with the news departments of media partners and others to generate additional buzz about the food drive. Last year, we initiated a very simple social media campaign, which will be expanded in 2009 to include Twitter, Facebook, blogging and other social media outlets and collaborations.
Evaluation
In 2007, we scored more than 42 news stories, totaling in excess of one hour and 21 minutes of airtime and reaching a Nielsen audience of 1.68 million people (at a calculated publicity value of $251,445). More importantly, we raided 1,004,000 pounds of food for the food bank.
In 2008, we scored 112 electronic news stories, totaling in excess of one hour and 45 minutes of airtime and some 12 print stories over the course of a month. Advertising and news coverage came in at a publicity value of $375,891, and we raised 1,108,000 pounds of food.
Just wait and see what’s going to happen in 2009!
The excitement and goodwill generated with this community outreach effort is palpable. We receive across the board support and are able to secure much-needed food for the winter months. Our members, our schools, our community and our media come through each year and show how much San Antonio cares.
