Food Banks Canada has launched a fundraising campaign to ensure food bank shelves stay replenished during the typically lean summer months.
#EveryPlateFull aims to help provide the 26.5 million plates of food that will be needed to feed the estimated 918,724 Canadians who will depend on food banks this summer, a slight increase over last year.
“Donations in Canadian food banks are at their lowest in the summer months” when people are in vacation mode, says Tania Little, director, development and partnerships at Food Banks Canada in Mississauga, Ont. “It’s an especially difficult time for low income families because school-supported breakfast and lunch programs aren’t available during the summer.”
People most often think about giving to food banks during the back to school, Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons, she says.
The campaign includes a “fairly expansive social media effort” on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, as well as YouTube videos, the website EveryPlatefull.ca, media relations and community food drives. Food Banks Canada is working with more than 120 organizations across the country.
One of the videos has the message “I’m a plate filler,” while another calls upon people to post an empty plate with #HungerLivesHere to raise awareness. Another notes that $1 provides three meals (through a combination of donated food, goods and transportation and purchased food).
“We wanted shareables that were engaging and that would make people really understand the call to action of the campaign in a really easy way,” Little says. “We want people to see how easy it is for them to get involved and make a difference.”
Launched this month, the campaign had about 4.2 million impressions on Twitter in its first week and there has been heavy media interest with more than 3.5 million media impression in the first week.
“We do feel there is an amazing amount of momentum around the campaign. Now what I think is really important is to keep the community engaged and mobilized and feel excited and positive about the impact.”
Sonia Prashar of SpPR is handling PR for the campaign.
