“It is our moral obligation to give every child the very best education possible. In order to learn, children need to be nourished. The Lunchbox Fund ensures that ever child is equipped to embrace the future and change it for the better.”
Our Goal
Our goal is to raise $5,000 to provide a daily meal to 100 South African school children for an entire year. Fundraising will take place on Causes from 2/10-2/16. By donating our posts, food bloggers are partnering with The Lunchbox Fund to help feed South Africa.
Our Partner
The Lunchbox Fund has been feeding impoverished and orphaned schoolchildren since 2005. It brings communities together with the help of small local businesses and entrepreneurs, and provides vulnerable students with healthy meals that nourish their bodies and minds.
Our Message
Feed a child. Nourish a mind. Children who don’t have enough to eat don’t have the capacity to work towards a proper education.
Each blog post is comprised of three parts: the content, the recipe, and the call to action.
Guidelines for each section are described below. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for access to digital assets to enhance your posts.
1. The Content
When it comes to writing your post, the more personal you can make it, the better. Tell stories, write from the heart, and weave statistics (at right) into the narrative for impact.
Ask your readers to think about a single child, not the 100 we will feed. Picture this child walking to school hungry, unable to concentrate, with a belly ache before the day is over.
Share how your mother always cut off the crust of your sandwiches, or the lunch your packed for your first day of work after graduating from college.
If you have children of your own, this is a wonderful opportunity to talk about what it's like to make lunches for them, and how this issue hits close to home.
If you're new to our events, take a peek at some posts from our last campaign by visiting The Faux Martha, Foodie Crush, and A Couple Cooks.
Regardless of the stories you tell and how you weave in the facts, think about your readers on the other end of the screen. How can you inspire them through this issue, and empower them to donate?
Statistics
- 65% of all South African children live in poverty. Receiving food encourages these children to stay in school and obtain their education.
- Nearly 20% of all children in South Africa are orphans, with approximately 1.9 Million of those children orphaned as a result of HIV and AIDS.
- Lack of food can diminish concentration, erode willpower, and strip away a child's potential. Compound that with prevalence of HIV/AIDS or the trauma of losing parents and loved ones, without food, a child's attendance and performance at school is severely jeopardized.
- The Lunchbox Fund identifies schools or forms partnerships with locally based NGOs or community organizations in order to evaluate and identify schools. It funds distributers to buy and deliver food, monitor the feeding scheme, implement a Project Manager, and deliver reports back to them for evaluation.
Post Titles
To incorporate our messaging into your headlines, here are a few ideas.
"Feed South Africa + Your Recipe Title"
"Food Bloggers Unite: Feeding South Africa"
"Feed a Child, Nourish a Mind"
"Why I'm Donating My Post to Help Feed South African Schoolchildren"
2. The Recipe
Because we're raising money for children to be fed a daily meal at school, our recipe theme is LUNCH.
Share what you pack for work, what you cook at home, or give us a peek inside your own child's lunch box. There is a lot of room to be flexible here, so interpret lunch in whatever way you need to for the recipe to resonate with your readers.
3. The Call to Action
We are asking readers to consider donating to our fundraising campaign that will provide 100 South African school children a daily meal for one year.
The call to action is critical, so be sure to link to our fundraising page on Causes!
Here are a few more guidelines:
- Ask that readers give according to their means.
- Stress the power of the gift: Just $10 can feed a child their only meal of the day.
- Make it personal: compare it to something tangible in your daily life, like a week's worth of lattes or a few scoops of ice cream.
- Lead by example. If you donate $10, ask your readers to do the same.
Social Media
The Giving Table
Twitter: @thegivingtable / #feedsouthafrica
Facebook: facebook.com/givingtable
Instagram: #feedsouthafrica
Causes: Campaign Page
The Lunchbox Fund
Twitter: @thelunchboxfund
Facebook: facebook.com/thelunchboxfund
Suggested Tweets
Recruitment
I pledged to donate my post on 2/10 to #feedsouthafrica. Will you join me? http://bit.ly/1azO52r
If you're a food blogger, @thegivingtable launched a fresh campaign to #feedsouthafrica on 2/10! Find out more: http://bit.ly/1azO52r
Proud to be donating my post to @thegivingtable on 2/10! Food bloggers are joining with @thelunchboxfund to #feedsouthafrica! http://bit.ly/1azO52r
Day-Of
Skip your latte this morning and nourish a child instead. http://bit.ly/19qNdP3 #feedsouthafrica
Join fellow food bloggers and #feedsouthafrica. $10 is all it takes! http://bit.ly/19qNdP3
Have $10? It can make a world of difference in the life of a child. http://bit.ly/19qNdP3 #feedsouthafrica
If your child were hungry, could they concentrate in school? Let's #feedsouthafrica. http://bit.ly/19qNdP3
For some children, @thelunchbox fund provides their only meal of the day. Help #feedsouthafrica. http://bit.ly/19qNdP3
Digital Assets
Digital assets can be downloaded via Dropbox here.
This folder will continue to be updated as the event gets closer.
Facebook Banner
Change your Facebook banner during our fundraising week from Feb. 10-16, 2014.
Right click to download the Facebook banner, or find it in our Dropbox folder.
Photos
These photos can be downloaded from our Dropbox folder. Each photo is already marked with a copyright for The Lunchbox Fund.
Video
Including a video in your post is not a requirement, but if you'd like to give readers more information about The Lunchbox Fund, this is a wonderful video to share.
Day-Of Checklist
- Publish your post the morning of February 10, 2014
- Visit our campaign page on Causes to place your donation and watch our fundraising progress.
- Spread the word. Causes makes it very easy to invite others to the campaign. Simply click on the action title and select "ask friends and supporters." This will allow you to invite any of your Facebook friends to the campaign page.
- Shout it from the rooftops. Tweet, retweet, and post on Facebook throughout the day using the hashtag #feedsouthafrica. We will be collecting donations for one week, so be sure to schedule a few tweets and posts to run throughout the week.
- If you have a subscriber list, consider featuring the campaign in your newsletter the week of 2/10-2/16.