A Christian non-profit founded in 1987, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) tackles world hunger by sending volunteer-packed, nutritious meals to nearly 70 countries, where they’re used in orphanages, schools, clinics and other building blocks of healthy communities. Last year, 1 million volunteers produced 33 million meals.
teamworks has worked with this international hunger-relief organization since 2008. We began in a pro bono capacity for three years, donating our time to handle publicity for the Arizona branch of the Minnesota-based nonprofit. In 2012, FMSC became a client, hiring teamworks to help with general PR, direct mail, event coordination and launch campaign logistics. Since then, teamworks also has brought in our PRConsultants Group colleagues in Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas and Washington, DC to assist with PR efforts in those markets.
Highlights
During our first Mega MobilePack volunteer fundraising event to support expansion in the Phoenix market in 2013, teamworks helped coordinate the event logistics, as well as managed all pre-event publicity to attract thousands of volunteers and at-event publicity to increase awareness of the organization’s work:
- During the first 24-hour event at the Phoenix Convention Center, 2,500 volunteers came to pack meals during two-hour sessions.
- Media garnered included 3 print stories, 5 online stories, 2 radio interviews, 178 donated :60 radio spots and 10 TV segments.
- We continue to publicize this annual (and growing) event, with the 2018 event hosting 10,000 volunteers to pack 2 million meals.
In the spring of 2016, teamworks outreached to media markets of cities whose sports teams take part in baseball spring training in Phoenix:
- Pitch suggested that fans traveling to Phoenix to watch their favorite team also spend time volunteering at FMSC during their visit.
- This creative pitch resulted in three TV hits in Kansas City, and a phenomenal piece done by a Milwaukee TV station, who came to the FMSC packing site to film a story, and ended up with a Wisconsin native (wearing a Badgers t-shirt!) to interview.
FMSC MarketPlace is an important fundraiser for the organization, and several times a year we pitch the newest items to the media to highlight:
- This past Mother’s Day, teamworks arranged for KTVK-TV to do a live shot at MarketPlace, resulting in viewers coming to the store within hours of its airing and sales that week double normal levels.
- The Marketplace also has been featured in Phoenix Home and Garden and on several TV morning and midday shows.
teamworks communication was an excellent resource when we launched a new meal packing site in Arizona. Since the launch, Barb’s expertise and passion have continued to increase Feed My Starving Children’s share of voice both in the Arizona market and nationally. I can trust her to read the local media, know the ways in with relevant stories, and build community awareness and loyalty through savvy PR and marketing communications work.