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Hunger Action Month 2017

Network Toolkit

TOGETHER

WE CANSOLVEHUNGER

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PR/COMMUNICATIONS

MATERIALS

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PR/COMMUNICATIONS OVERVIEW

As a network, we are the leader of the Hunger Action Month movement. Each

September, we have the opportunity to further establish the magnitude of our

impact in the fight to end hunger in the U.S. If we speak up together in a

coordinated fashion, we can make the American public aware of this very real

issue and call for widespread support and attention.

In the following slides, we have shared a suite of resources and

suggestions to unite our network in coordinated communications,

including:

• Key messages and talking points

• Communication resources

• Suggested media pitches

• Ideas for blog posts, e-newsletter copy and web content

• Key dates for communication

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KEY MESSAGES AND TALKING POINTS

• Background Messaging

– Hunger Action Month™ is the Feeding America network’s nationwide awareness campaign designed to mobilize the public to take action on the issue of hunger.

– Hunger Action Day® is a time for hunger-relief advocates to focus our efforts on one day for greater impact.

• 2017 Tone Messaging

– The feeling of running on empty is a reality for 42 million Americans. We need to make sure that no child, adult or senior in America ever runs on empty, so this September, we’re asking everyone to come together to help end hunger.

– Nothing runs on empty, especially the one in eight Americans who struggle with hunger. Join the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks to help end hunger in your community. Act now at HungerActionMonth.org.

– An empty plate, means an empty stomach. And on an empty stomach, no one can reach their full potential.

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KEY MESSAGES AND TALKING POINTS

• Call to Action Messaging

– Together, we can help everyone reach their full potential. Take action today, visit

HungerActionMonth.org to learn how you can get started.

– Advocate. Educate. Volunteer. Donate. Everyone has a role to play in ending hunger. Take action

today by contacting your local Feeding America food bank. Find your local food bank here.

– There are 42 million Americans who don’t always get enough to eat, which means they sometimes

don’t have the fuel they need to tackle the day. So while it’s tough to do basic activities on empty, it’s

easy to make a difference.

– Take action with Feeding America food banks for Hunger Action Month by taking an Empty Plate Selfie

– find a paper plate, scribble what you couldn’t do on an empty stomach and post a photo to social

media with #HungerActionMonth. Tag @FeedingAmerica and your local food bank to join the

conversation.

• Additional Localized Hunger Action Month Messages

– The feeling of running on empty is a reality for [#] people in [service area].

– Together, we can help everyone reach their full potential. Take action today, visit [food bank website

w/HAM details].

– Advocate. Educate. Volunteer. Donate. Everyone has a role to play in ending hunger. Take action

today by contacting your local Feeding America food bank. [food bank website w/HAM details].

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COMMUNICATION RESOURCES

• Key Messages Document– Please use this resource to help in crafting pitches, social media

content, website copy, e-newsletter articles, blog posts or any other

external facing communication regarding Hunger Action Month.

• Template Press Release– This is a template that mirrors the national message, however it will

leave openings for you to customize with key local facts and Hunger

Action Month activities.

– We encourage you to issue your release in advance of Hunger Action

Month to serve as a heads up to media partners. We recommend that

you issue your HAM release on Wednesday, August 30.

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MEDIA PITCH IDEAS

Media Pitch Ideas

• [City] is Turning Orange for Hunger Action Month: If your food bank has coordinated the turning orange of any

landmark buildings in your city or service area, invite media to be there for the moment. If you can, invite a local celebrity or

government official to draw additional attention to the issue and the event.

• X Station is Turning Orange for Hunger Action Day: Ask your local media contacts if they would wear orange on

HAD, and ask their anchors to wear orange ties, dresses, etc. as well. You can offer up your CEO/ED for an in-studio

interview about HAM and HAD, and to provide ways for viewers to take action. Ask if they’ll feature the Empty Plates Video

live on TV, and later in the newscast a simple cooking segment that shows how creative and healthy meals can be made with

simple and inexpensive ingredients (tap into any local chef relationships you have and ask them to be part of the segment, or

offer up your registered dietician or nutritionist on staff for this segment).

• The Facts of Hunger in [Your Service Area]: Hunger Action Month is an excuse to invite media to pull back the

curtain and see what life is like for the X number of people struggling right there in your own backyard. Use MMG data and

help coordinate interviews with a client, an agency partner who can attest to the reality of hunger, and your CEO/ED who can

speak to community wide trends, solutions and needs. Be sure to provide ways for viewers to take action.

• Turnkey Web Content for News Station Website Managers: We know that many news stations nowadays are

struggling with bandwidth issues – so take advantage of this, and provide some of the high-quality HAM assets we have

available. Email the news desk and offer that they support Hunger Action Month by turning their logo orange, and featuring

the Empty Plates video in their Video Center or on a page like a Community Page, Local News, Entertainment News, Feel

Good News, or even a Don’t Miss section. All news stations have social media, so consider asking if they’d share on social at

the very least.

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E-NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEB CONTENT

Content Thought Starters

• Empty Plate Video and Blog Combo: Use this digital asset in combination with a unique and compelling blog post.

Ask a client (or previous client) to write a post on what it’s like to cook a meal without key ingredients. Have them share

what it’s been like for them to cook and prepare meals when food has been absent. What did dinner used to look like for

them before the pantry or soup kitchen?

• I Took Action, You Can Too: Have a volunteer, or series of volunteers, blog about how they took action during

Hunger Action Month (then elevate those blogs onto your social media account for maximum exposure). Use this as a

creative way to highlight all the various calls to action for HAM. One volunteer could talk all about how they organized a

group of their friends and scheduled a volunteer experience. Another could talk about how they sent an email to their entire

family and list of coworkers asking them to use the new HAM Facebook Filter on their profile, or to share the Empty Plate

video with their followers.

• Why My Company Is Taking Action This September: Work with one of your most active corporate partners,

and ask if their CEO or head of employee engagement would write a short article for your E-Newsletter on why they’re

getting involved to support your food bank during HAM. Then provide a point of contact for others to reach out for similar

opportunities for involvement.

• What It’s Like to Run on Empty: Do a client photo series to illustrate what running on empty is really like for the

food-insecure people in your community. Feature photos with quotes or brief bios of your clients and share them as blog

post series. Be sure to always include a call to action.

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DAYS TO BE AWARE OF BEFORE AND DURING HAM

• August 30 – Suggested Date for Network HAM Press Release

• August 31 – Suggested Partner Press Releases

• September 1 – 1st Day of HAM 2016

• September 4 – Labor Day

• September TBD – USDA Food Insecurity Numbers Released

• September 11 – 16th Anniversary of September 11

• September TBD – New Census Poverty Numbers Released

• September 14 – Hunger Action Day

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HUNGER ACTION MONTH: MEDIA REMINDERS

• If you have big success with securing media in your local market – tell us

about it! When we can, we try to get your local stories placed in national

media.

• Do you already have any big events or announcements planned for

September? Please share these key items with us and we’ll see if a

national opportunity is possible.

• Reminder: Elevating a story to national media results in a national

placement for your local food bank, and does not cannibalize coverage in

your local market.

• Please email your Hunger Action Month media ideas or coverage to Zuani

Villarreal at zvillarreal@feedingamerica.org

Elevate Media From Local to National

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TURN ORANGE INSPIRATION GUIDE

• Find great examples of local HAM activations from across the network to

repurpose for your food bank’s 2017 HAM campaign

– Contacts included for each activation; feel free to reach out for additional

information

• 2017 version will be available shortly. In the meantime, the 2016 version of

the Turn Orange Inspiration Guide can be found on HungerNet HERE

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ADVOCACY MATERIALS

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ADVOCACY OVERVIEW

This Hunger Action Month, the Feeding America network has an important

opportunity to raise the visibility of the hunger issue in America during the

month of September and beyond!

If we raise our voices in unison, we can influence Congress and our local

governments to strengthen anti-hunger legislation and take action to fight

hunger across the U.S. As individuals, charities, businesses and government,

we all have a role to play in getting food assistance to our neighbors in need.

On the following slides, we’ve included resources and ideas for how your food

bank and community can advocate for hunger relief this Hunger Action Month.

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TAKE ACTION

5 ADVOCACY ACTIONS TO ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITY IN HUNGER ACTION MONTH 2016

1. INCORPORATE POLICY INFORMATION* INTO YOUR MARKETING ASSETS: • Use your food bank’s social media channels to educate and engage your community on hunger relief and policy issues that

can improve clients’ lives.• Tweet at or link to your member of Congress when sharing empty plate graphics on social media.

• Looking for your member of Congress’ social media profile? Check HERE• Include information about relevant hunger-relief policies in your press release and other media outreach.

2. VOLUNTEER SUPPORT: Share information about anti-hunger policies with volunteers during Hunger Action Month, and encourage them to raise their voice in support of the issue.

3. PAPER PLATE ADVOCACY: Remember those plates you just took a picture of and shared on social media? Deliver them to your members of congress in their district office. Members of Congress love to prominently feature the causes they support!

• Encourage your local officials to take action on their social channels by taking a picture of themselves with an empty plate stating how they can help end hunger!

4. HOST A SITE VISIT: Host an elected official at a feeding site or your food bank. You can invite the media as well. Check out additional resources to plan site visits HERE.

5. DECLARE SEPTEMBER HUNGER ACTION MONTH: Proclamations can help bring awareness to the issue of hunger and provide a way to engage your elected officials. Help us make September synonymous with Hunger Action Month. See the HAM Proclamation Toolkit on right hand side of the HAM page on HungerNet for additional resources to help get you started.

*See the following slide for messaging points on specific policies that will be relevant in September 2017.

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POLICY OVERVIEW – SEPTEMBER 2017

2 Main Areas of Policy

SNAP TEFAPThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) is the nation’s first line of defense against hunger in America. Congress and the Administration should protect and strengthen this vital program to ensure nobody in this country goes hungry.

The Feeding America network of food banks relies on TEFAP as well as the donations of surplus nutritious food from donors in the agriculture, food manufacturing, retail, and food service fields to provide almost 4 billion meals a year to people in need. TEFAP is the backbone of the charitable food system –providing almost 20% of the food that was distributed through local hunger-relief agencies last year.

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CORPORATE PARTNER

MATERIALS

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WORKING WITH CORPORATE PARTNERS

Encourage your corporate partners to get involved in Hunger Action Month by sharing an update on the 2017 HAM Campaign idea (feel free to repurpose slides from this toolkit).

The following are activation ideas that you can share with your Corporate Partners:

• Encourage employees to get involved in HAM; direct them to HungerActionMonth.org (or your local food bank’s webpage)

• Set up an employee volunteer event at your local food bank in September

• Host a “lunch and learn” on hunger in America (or in your local geography) for your employees

• Post Hunger Action Month signs in lobbies, break rooms, cafeterias

• Create and distribute HAM items to employees – paper plates for use on social media, stickers, pins, post-its etc.

• Develop an internal communication encouraging employees to take a picture of themselves holding an empty plate with a message about what they can’t do on an empty stomach etc.

• Set up a selfie station at your office where employees can write on paper plates, take a picture of themselves, and post to their social media channels in support of the campaign

• Follow your local food bank’s social media pages and share/like/retweet the Hunger Action Month social graphics that they post

• Ask your CEO to send a letter to employees and key customers encouraging participation in Hunger Action Month

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SHARING CONTENT

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FANO Spotlight on Network HAM Successes

This Hunger Action Month, we are sharing an opportunity for your food bank to be featured on FANO social

media properties.

Please complete the HungerNet content collection form for an opportunity to have your local activation/story

etc. featured on the national office’s social media channels. Form is available HERE.

Submitted content may be featured on social media, the Feeding America blog and Hunger’s Hope

newsletter, tagging and/or linking to your food bank.

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FANO Spotlight on Network HAM Successes Cont.

To highlight food bank activity on FANO channels, this form

will be used on an ongoing basis – not just for Hunger

Action Month!

Filling out the form:

• Contact Information: When you’re logged into HungerNet,

your name, email address and food bank will populate

automatically!

• Content Type: Please classify your content per the drop-

down. This will help us curate on an ongoing basis.

• Campaign/Topic: This September, please select Hunger

Action Month. Throughout the year, we will add campaigns

as applicable.

• Description: Please include any information FANO would

need to create sharable content, including people or

partners to tag.

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HungerNet Link:https://www.hungernet.org/marcom/MonthlyThemes/ham/ham2017/Pa

ges/default.aspx

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DANIELLE RUBIN

Marketing Manager

drubin@feedingamerica.org

312.641.6749

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APPENDIX

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LOCAL ACTIVATION IDEAS

We’ve brainstormed several activation ideas

that could potentially be executed on a local

level.

Please feel welcome to consider these ideas

for your food banks, agencies and partners!

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During restaurant week in a metropolitan city, serve meals on plates containing a

hidden Hunger Action Month message that reveals itself as the person eats. In addition

to a “tip” line on the receipt, include line to write in a donation to your food bank.

IDEA: RESTAURANT WEEK

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Ask local stores that have table settings to include

“I can’t” / “I can” plates in their merchandising.

IDEA: STORE MERCHANDISING

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Partner with local chefs to raise awareness about hunger in America. Each contestant will create and

cook meals for a soup kitchen and be judged by a panel of local leaders. The winning chef will get to

cater a food bank fundraising event and have a portion of the proceeds donated in their name.

IDEA: LOCAL CHEF COMPETITION

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Create plate installations in local markets. Encourage community members to bring a plate from

their own home to showcase their dedication to helping end hunger. Display them in an artistic

way (at schools, public parks, at agencies, etc.).

IDEA: PLATE INSTALLATION

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IDEA: LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES

Have ambassadors hand out paper plates with “empty stomach” messaging on them at

local government offices. Could also set up a table where people can write an “I can’t”

statement on them and take a picture to post on social media.

Encourage politicians, policymakers, etc. to take part.

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IDEA: CHALKBOARD INSTALLATION

Create “Before I Die” –type chalkboard installation in high traffic areas in days leading up to

Hunger Action Day. Capture content of the wall being filled up with handwritten statements.

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Ask local food trucks to offer “free samples” of their food during lunchtime on

Hunger Action Day. But instead, patrons get an empty plate with our messaging.

Encourage people to take a picture of the plate, share it with #HungerActionMonth and

tag the food truck tag to trigger their “lunch” being donated to your food bank.

IDEA: FOOD TRUCK SURPRISE

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Create and film a stunt where unsuspecting people go to a restaurant on Hunger Action Day

where other patrons are eating from empty plates. At first, they’ll be confused. But when their

plate arrives, there’s a message written on it that explains everything.

IDEA: RESTAURANT SURPRISE

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Ask for restaurants to help raise awareness for

Hunger Action Month.

After patrons have enjoyed their meal, they’ll have

the opportunity to get dessert or trade it in for an

entire meal for someone who needs it.

IDEA: DONATE YOUR DESSERT