Good afternoon!
Thank you in advance for your assistance in coordinating a successful “Blessings in a Backpack Day” – which is September 15, 2016. To support you in your efforts, we’ve put together a toolkit of communications resources that you will find helpful in the planning and promotion of your event.
While it is vital that we first secure your mayor’s participation, our secondary goal is to maximize this opportunity to raise awareness and elevate the work you are doing with Blessings in a Backpack through digital and news media. To do so, we have created the following documents for you:
· Template news advisory: This document is used to alert news media about an event taking place and invite them to attend – providing the basic what, who, where and when information. We recommend that this be sent to local journalists and news outlets on September 12 and 15. If your mayor is attending, we recommend you collaborate with their office, as they likely have good relations with local media.
· Blessings in a Backpack talking points: If media attend your event, it is important to ensure that you are prepared to speak about your work with Blessings in a Backpack with the reporter(s). It is also helpful to identify 1-2 other people that would make for strong interviews as well (for example, the school principal, a very involved teacher or social worker, a student who is a recipient of Blessings and his/her parents, etc.). These talking points will provide you with some basic Blessings in a Backpack factual information, but you should also have local data and information on hand. It would be a good idea to share this information with the mayor’s office as well.
· Template news release: This document summarizes the event and provides journalists with ample information to write or produce a story. This should be sent out to news media directly following your event on September 15. We again encourage you to collaborate on this with the mayor’s office – asking for an approved quote to be included.
While these documents are meant to aid your communications efforts around “Blessings in a Backpack Day,” our planning team is available and willing to answer any questions and provide additional support as needed. Please feel free to email with any questions.
Thank you for participating in this year’s national “Blessings in a Backpack Day”, and for your continued dedication to help us feed the children of America!
- The “Blessings in a Backpack Day” Planning Team
Blessings in a Backpack Day 2016 | September 15|