Organize an awareness campaign about hunger

A lot of people don’t know much about hunger or how many people it affects in America. Running an awareness campaign is a great way to educate your community and peers and get them to support your drive.

Double Check

First, make sure you are allowed to post your signs around school or on telephone poles and community bulletin boards. If your town won’t allow you to post around town, see if you can pass out fliers at your town hall, public library, local businesses or at school.

Do Some Research

Gather some data for the signs and figure out how you want to present it. Do Something has tons of compelling facts on global hunger and hunger in United States as well as background information on the issue.

Investigate Locally

You can even find out about hunger in your area and how it affects people. Visit a shelter or pantry and ask questions.

Details

See if you can get a quote from an expert. Call your local university and track down a professor. Visit a local pantry and see if you can interview someone there. Of course, you’ll have to ask but if they’re okay with it, include it in your campaign. Real stories are powerful!

Images

Sometimes pictures make stronger statements than words and are as much a part of the message as the chosen words, so don’t be afraid to use them. If that person at the pantry is willing to show his or her face, let them!

Power in People

Now that you’ve got all this info, get some friends together to help you design and complete the posters or fliers. They can also help you put them up when you’re done.

Variety is Key

Keep in mind, that in order to make this campaign effective, you have to vary your strategy. So think about making a few different kinds of signs:

• Small fliers to pass out to people
• Big, colorful posters to post on telephone polls: you want these to stand out because people will be driving and/or walking by them so you want to grab their attention.
• Informative fliers to post on cork boards or town message boards.

Timing

Timing is everything so find a time that is cause appropriate. October is Hunger Awareness Month but if you’ve missed the date, don’t be hesitant to start a campaign regardless. A collection drive is great around the holidays – after all, it is the season of giving.

Be Bold

Think of strange, but effective, places you can put up posters and see if you can get permission to post them there. Marketers have put up ads in odd places because it’s proven successful. Like the doors in bathroom stalls of restaurants, cafes, and/or even in restrooms of your local bus or train station. Try it out!

Post and Repost

While going out one day and posting is great, keep in mind that weather may damage posters so you’ll want to go out periodically and repost your signs. You also won’t catch everyone in one day so schedule a few days to go out and distribute fliers.

The Extra Mile

You can also recruit speakers to come in and speak to students at your school, like someone from a local food pantry who can attest to the many faces of hunger.

And don't forget to let Do Something know the amazing things you've done!