How does the Let’s Can Hunger Challenge fit into the SIFE Criteria? Great question! Below are some ideas. These suggestions are not mandatory projects. Some of these ideas may not be relevant or easy to implement in your local community. Please seek guidance and permission from appropriate parties when necessary prior to implementing some of these projects. We encourage students to use these ideas as a springboard, adapt them for their local community or culture, or use their creative thinking to come up with additional ideas.
Hunger Awareness
Issue press releases regarding your activities to make your campus or community aware of urgent hunger relief activities and how they can donate to your team’s activities to take action.
Invite local media or publicists to events to take photos and report on your urgent hunger relief activities.
Team up with your local food bank or pantry to do a marketing campaign that engages the media and the community—partner with other campus or community organizations to achieve maximum impact.
Create Public Service Announcements on your local radio or TV stations to make campus or community members aware of the need for hunger relief and how they can donate to your team’s urgent hunger relief activities to take action.
Design a campaign to raise hunger awareness using social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Myspace–recruit followers and measure traffic to identify size of audience.
In your media and community engagement, educate your target audience on relationship between obesity and hunger—emphasize the donation of healthy foods for your team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Take out advertisements in your local newspaper or secure a billboard to educate your community on hunger and how they can help by donating to your team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Create a sidewalk chalk or dry-erase board message campaign on your campus to educate others with statistics about hunger issues and how they can help by donating to your team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
To raise awareness, sponsor a local campus or community gala—donate all proceeds to urgent hunger relief.
Sponsor a local chef competition—limit chefs to non-perishable items and educate your target audience on preparing low-cost, nutritious meals from non-perishable ingredients—invite local TV news stations and donate proceeds to your team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Host an event that provides an experience for the participants to live a day in the shoes of a hunger victim—participants will be taught about the issues that cause an individual to become a hunger victim and experience the difficulties these individuals face on a daily basis—invite participants to “pay to play”, donating proceeds to your team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Create interactive hunger displays on campus and/or in the community—address how they can become involved in fighting hunger by donating to your SIFE team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
In your media efforts and community outreach, teach the importance of basic food nutrition and its affect on social and financial stability—emphasize the donation of healthy and nutritious options to your SIFE team’s urgent hunger relief project(s).
Help generate awareness by hosting a symposium to educate others on the global financial crisis and the effect of rising food and fuel prices around the world on food costs—“charge” nonperishable items as admission.
Create a “National Hunger Awareness Day” (or week) for your campus or community, calling your target audience to act by donating to your SIFE team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Develop a video campaign to highlight the hunger statistics—work with a local theater to play the video—“charge” nonperishable items as admission.
Publish and market a recipe book for low cost, healthy meals—donate all proceeds to urgent hunger relief.
Host a low cost dinner open to the community at a local food bank—charge “one nonperishable item” as the cost of admission or donate proceeds; attendees will learn about the organization and the steps the food bank takes to provide food to the community.
Educate businesses on social responsibility and giving back to the community; help them develop a plan to incorporate social responsibility into their practices by donating to your SIFE team’s urgent hunger relief activities.
Urgent Hunger Relief
The key to a successful food or fundraising campaign is a good marketing plan. Before you start, devise a strategy, evaluate your plan, set goals, and involve the media. Be sure to provide updates to keep the energy level around your cause high!
As a Social Entrepreneurship project, help start a food bank in a community that is not served by one.
Go door to door with flyers or a dvd about hunger in your community. Hand out bags and let residents know when you will be back to collect donations.
Hold food drives in grocery stores. Ask management to commit to matching a percentage of donations. Give customers a small “shopping list” of items to buy. Place monetary donation boxes at cash registers throughout your community with the faces and stories of hunger victims. Note: Unless express permission is obtained in writing from the victim or food bank, SIFE teams may not use pictures, and names in all stories must be changed or facts altered so as not to reveal the identity of the hunger victim.
Set a goal to raise a certain amount. Hold a press conference with the town mayor or other public officials to raise awareness. Post visible reminders of progress against your goal in the community.
Hold a gala in the community, seeking proceeds from attendees and charging admission to attend.
Ask local businesses to donate products or gift baskets to be auctioned off for a local hunger relief organization.
Plan and host a local 5k. Donate the money from sponsorship and registration fees to your local food bank or pantry.
Create a short film documenting volunteers’ experiences of a day in the shoes of a hunger victim. Participants will attempt to get by on $1-$2 for food. Show the film on campus or at your local theater. Donate ticket sales to urgent hunger relief.
Work with businesses in your area to solicit donations for a local food bank.
Conduct “dorm raids”—post flyers announcing that your group will be coming door to door through the dorm at a time when many residents are in. Offer a prize to the resident with the most donations.
Contact professors on campus to mobilize students into teams of volunteers that collect food and funds for urgent hunger relief. Students could fulfill corporate social responsibility or community service project requirements through participation.
Hold an empty bowls dinner—serve a meal and donate the proceeds of admission to hunger relief.
Hold a campus or community formal or concert. Donate proceeds to a local hunger relief organization.
Hold a raffle on campus with a spectacular prize. Donate proceeds to a local hunger relief organization.
At a central location, allow students or community members to sign up to sponsor a fictional food insecure individual, donating a certain amount each day for a specified time for that person to eat. Donate proceeds to the food bank.
Create a cookbook of donated recipes. Ask persons who donate to include all the non-perishable goods necessary to make the recipe. Donate proceeds.
Rescue unsold food, whether non-perishable or fresh, from the waste stream by coordinating pick-up and drop-off to food banks.
Work with your athletic department to donate proceeds from a game or games to a local hunger relief organization—or charge a non-perishable item in place of, or in addition to, admission.
Hold a campus or community canstruction event.
Recruit professors to offer extra credit to students for bringing cans to class.
Create a “National Hunger Awareness Day” (or week) for your community.
Create Public Service Announcements on your local radio or TV stations to advertise the opportunities to donate or get involved with local hunger relief organizations.
Work with your food bank to set up a way to receive mobile donations through text messages. Advertise the number to text donate.
In conjunction with a campus and community-wide drive, set up a website where people can donate online. Use the media to advertise, or even set up a hotline to a local radio station for people to call and make credit card donations.
Work with a local food bank to help them improve inventory–track inventory in prior years and compare to inventory levels during and after the team has implemented food drives and marketing campaigns.
Work with businesses to help fund or provide relief for crisis victims who are food challenged (e.g., victims of a natural disaster).
Develop a city-wide plan to coordinate the efforts and resources of all the local food banks for greater impact.
Lasting Hunger Relief
Defeating the Hunger Cycle for those who are food insecure is possible. By transferring knowledge, tools, or resources, you can empower this target audience to raise their quality of life and standard of living.
Meet with target audiences at high risk for food insecurity, i.e. college students, the elderly, single parents, etc., to present a comprehensive hunger toolkit—advice on budgeting for food, growing food, savvy shopping tips, coupon resources, etc.
Create a series of workshops for a low income or food insecure target audience that address career skills—typing, resume writing, interview skills, etc. Work with this audience over several months to track the impact of the information your team is sharing.
Contact a food bank for volunteers to do a case study with your team. With one-two families or individuals, work to identify opportunities to transfer knowledge, skills or resources specific to their situation that will empower them to defeat the hunger cycle.
Publish and/or distribute a recipe book for low cost, healthy meals.
Foster a passion for gardening with school children in a low-income area—start a community garden with the children while teaching them the importance of nutrition and healthy eating.
Teach single parents or low income adults the importance of basic food nutrition and its affect on social and financial stability.
Teach individuals how to start their own garden for profit, or to save money—emphasize the importance of nutrition, and the effect different foods have on hunger.
Teach canning techniques to local gardeners as a way to help save money and/or make a profit–emphasize the opportunity of eating or selling organic produce or canned goods.
Start a local farmer’s market in your community.
Help local farmers market their crops for maximum profitability, or start a co-op.
Teach directors of a food bank or shelter how to develop a business plan for fresh food co-operatives to maximize profit—emphasize the importance of providing nutritious options for people who are often malnourished as a result of limited options.
Teach the elderly, single moms, individuals, or families about food budgeting and efficient food preparation to maximize their resources.
Teach savings through a financial comparison of eating out vs. cooking at home—provide resources for attendees to access coupons and other savings and deals.
Hold cooking classes where attendees make meals in bulk—saving time and money.
Hold cooking classes for college students or the elderly on cooking efficiently for one.
Educate businesses on social responsibility and giving back to the community; help them develop a plan to incorporate social responsibility into their practices.
Start a community garden patch—hold a press conference with the town mayor to generate excitement, interest and visibility.
Bring together local religious centers (temples, mosques, churches, shrines or other religious institutions) to host a soup kitchen while educating individuals about options for food budget maximization.
Create a coloring book for children to explain the importance of good nutrition, sharing, and earning and saving for life choices.
Establish a summer lunch program for grade school children who are food insecure. Include healthy, nutritious options.
Meet with your local school district to evaluate the nutrition options served to students. Research and present opportunities for healthy alternatives. Persuade the district to adopt policies that encourage healthy eating; i.e. balanced nutrition and exercise opportunities.