Digital Bread Art Project Raises Money to End Childhood Hunger in America
JULY 19, 2010 – RIDGWAY, Colo. – The Grain Foods Foundation’s Bread Art Project recently reached its goal of raising $50,000 for Share Our Strength®, a non-profit organization leading the charge to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Through the digital campaign, consumers were encouraged to create personalized pieces of bread art – at no cost – by uploading a favorite drawing or photo, or designing a new one using a digital slice of bread as the canvas. For each piece of bread art created, the Grain Foods Foundation donated $1 to Share Our Strength to help give hungry children in our country access to nutritious meals. The latest statistics show that nearly 17 million children in America – almost one in four – struggle with hunger.
Though the goal has been reached, the Bread Art Project remains live, allowing consumers to continue creating bread art or viewing other art in the virtual gallery. They can also learn about the health benefits of bread and grains.
“We’ve very pleased with the results of this year’s campaign, especially that we were able to reach our goal of doubling the amount of bread art created from last year,” said Judi Adams MS, RD and president of the Grain Foods Foundation. “This campaign continues to resonate with consumers across the country and we look forward to maintaining the success of the Bread Art Project long term.”
About the Campaign
The Bread Art Project was supported through an integrated communications program – including digital, social and traditional media. Facebook and Twitter outreach encouraged fans and followers to create and share their bread art via their social networks. Banner advertising ran on popular websites including Cafemom.com, MyRecipes.com, RachaelRayMag.com and WomansDay.com. A public service announcement was distributed to national general interest and women’s magazines for placement throughout 2010, and template retail point-of-sale materials were made available for use by all GFF members. Through a partnership with Weekly Reader, the Grain Foods Foundation also was able to reach educators and parents to encourage participation in the Bread Art Project while educating them about the nutritional value of grain foods.
Additionally, the Grain Foods Foundation conducted a national publicity tour with Melissa d’Arabian to promote the nutritional value of grain-based foods as essential meal-time staples for today’s families. As a mother of four and the host of “Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian,” she developed recipes and tips that showcased the importance of grain foods in a healthful and budget-conscious meal. Those recipes and tips were shared through social and traditional media relations, including mom blogger events in key cities, as well as on gowiththegrain.org.
The campaign resulted in nearly 200,000 visits to breadartproject.com and more than 100 million media impressions to date. Many of the media impressions were directly tied to blogger and social media outreach, which has connected more than 4,600 Twitter followers and Facebook fans to the Grain Foods Foundation, more than double than when the campaign launched.
About Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength® is the leading national organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. By weaving together a net of community groups, activists and food programs, Share Our Strength catches children at risk of hunger and ensures they have nutritious food where they live, learn and play. Working closely with the culinary industry, Share Our Strength creates engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation®, the nation’s premier culinary benefit; Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale®, a national grassroots effort; Share Our Strength’s A Tasteful Pursuit®, a touring dinner series; Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out®, a week-long program involving thousands of restaurants nationwide; and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline®, a cooking-based nutrition education program. Through these programs, we raise funds to support No Kid Hungry™, a national campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. Visit Strength.org for more information.
About the Grain Foods Foundation
The Grain Foods Foundation, a joint venture of members of the milling, baking and allied industries formed in 2004, is dedicated to advancing the public’s understanding of the beneficial role grain-based foods play in the human diet. Directed by a board of trustees, funding for the Foundation is provided through voluntary donations from private grain-related companies and is supplemented by industry associations. For more information about the Grain Foods Foundation, visit gowiththegrain.org, or find GoWithTheGrain on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.