WMFHA Gives Back Public Recognition

Posted By: Kelly Wakefield (deleted) Articles, WMFHA Updates,

We love sharing the contributions our members make in the community with the public. We make sure the message is broadcasted far and wide through social media, blogs, videos, and celebrities.

WMFHA’s Facebook page has over 2,000 “likes” including our members, their families, other employees in the industry, and the general public. It is by far the platform that has the most traction to get public recognition for the work that we do. In 2018 we saw an almost 500% increase in engagement on the page, especially around our charity events and programs.

Leading up to Chili Cook-Off last year, we published a thank you on our Facebook page to each person or company that donated in-kind goods or services. With 49 donations received, we spread these out over the weeks leading up to the event. These not only thanked the donors, but got people excited about the event and helped to sell tickets. One of our celebrity judges was a local news anchor, Angela King. We leveraged her position in the media and as a public figure to also drive excitement and attendance for the event. People loved the live videos we broadcasted on Facebook during the event, especially with our local Seattle Seahawks’ cheerleaders making an appearance, and the team’s drumline band passing through with more activity.

To keep the momentum going for the next year, we produced a recap video to share with the public. It highlighted the cook-off winners and activities of the event and showcases the comradery and support of the community.

For Holiday Giving Gala we took a similar approach. We spread out 69 in-kind donation messages of gratitude leading up the event, broadcasted live videos on Facebook during the event, and made sure the message was being heard loud and clear. Our efforts in notifying and procuring from the public resulted in a sold-out event and a record amount of donations received.

Move For Hunger produces a quarterly leaderboard of our members’ donations that we publish on our blog regularly. We also call out the top donors on our social media platforms to make the message go even further. The organization itself has been recognized nationally on platforms such as VHI, and we have leveraged that to gain more exposure for our program locally.

To honor the work that our member volunteers execute, and the donations that our Supplier Partner members make for our Rebuilding Together Day of Impact, we publicly recognized them with a blog feature. We named everyone that shared their time and each company that donated their goods and services. Taking the time during the day to hear what the participants had to say, we shared a few of their testimonials to drive the impact home, literally and figuratively.

The purest public recognition can be found in the heart of a child. When a child saves up all their coins and shyly adds their personal donation to the pot, that is when we know our work makes a huge difference.