D o m i n i qu e Fra n c i s co

Kata r i n a Leh n er

Taylo r Cox

Mary's Kitchen

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Faculty Advisor: Veston Rowe

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Established in Orange County, California, Mary’s Kitchen is a nonprofit organization geared toward providing the local homeless with everyday essentials, such as food, shelter, and clothing. Mary’s Kitchen harnesses respect for those burdened by a lower socioeco-nomic status, and makes these resources accessible to the homeless as a way to alleviate their financial hardships.

We, at Group Number Five, have taken the initiative to extend founder Mary McAnena’s efforts to the greater Chapman University community by educating the student body about the significance of practicing compassion in our society. We live in an age where students prioritize academic involvement over philanthropy. However, to become a well-rounded student and to maximize our learning experience, it is essential that we gain first-hand experiences with organizations that matter.

While encouraging our publics to do this may be a difficult task because of demanding student schedules and the common misconcep-tion that one person is incapable of making an impact, we are confident that we will succeed with proper planning and execution. To increase involvement with the movement, we will launch the Priceless Presents campaign, a community-wide, non-monetary dona-tions drive that will entertain our publics’ wants and needs with interactive activities and career opportunities, but that will also educate members of the community about local homelessness and to trigger a genuine passion for aiding others.

Above all, we hope to make one message known -- that helping has no price. Despite our diverse backgrounds and our varying de-grees of privilege, we are all capable of lending a hand.

In the prosperous town of Orange, California, where the average household income is $90,023, the small .14 percent of locally home-less individuals often goes unnoticed. According to Forbes, wealthy people donate less money to charity than their lower and mid-dle-class counterparts, because they are less sensitive to the needs of other people. Therefore, it is our plan to motivate the town’s residents to donate to the local homeless population, and consequently, narrow the community’s socioeconomic gap.

Although the student body at Chapman University has made strides toward assisting the homeless with the establishment of Civic Engagement Initiatives, Alternative Break trips, and on-campus organizations, there is always room for further improvement and involvement. While on-campus effort is apparent, these philanthropic services often deal with homeless populations outside the local area or are geared solely toward children. Furthermore, some clubs (such as Build Futures) have become inactive because of a lack of participation. A plausible explanation for this lack of participation is the cost of tuition, and all the hardships it poses for students and their families – debt accumulation, emotional strain, housing payments, and commitment to jobs, to name a few.

We have noticed that, as a result of these economic hardships and financial obligations, Chapman students are typically reluctant to sacrifice their personal income for the wellbeing of the greater good. While they may agree with efforts to improve the lives of the disad-vantaged, they are unwilling to make monetary donations to strangers belonging to a highly stigmatized community. Therefore, we have made it our priority to educate our peers and to eliminate the common misconceptions associated with the less for-tunate. In turn, we hope to see a bolstered sense of empathy among the Chapman community in the form of non-monetary donations and a sincere drive to help others.

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Mary McAnena, the founder of Mary’s Kitchen, established this non-profit organization in 1984. After helping a homeless woman in Hart Park, Orange, California, Mary realized she had found her calling. From that day in the park to her last few days on earth, Mary devoted all of her time to helping the homeless. Although she originally ran her business from home, Mary moved her kitchen to its current location in 1994. 100% funded by private donations, and 100% staffed by volunteers, Mary’s Kitchen provides over 200 people with reliable support and indispensable goods everyday.

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s tat i s t i c sOver the past ten years, the growth of soup kitchens and homeless shelters has drastically increased, while the number of people going hungry every day is also increasing. It is estimated that 30 million Americans are affected by hunger, 12 million of which are children. Studies done in the U.S. show 28% of the homeless population do not eat on a daily basis. Although the percent of homeless and poverty stricken citizens continues to increase, so does the aid of soup kitchens and shelters. The increased demand for kitchens and shelters has increased by 24%; however, through the powerful network of social media, supporters, and donors, our economy has been able to respond efficiently and rapidly.

p r i m a ry r e s e a r c hMary’s Kitchen is a nonprofit organization that provides services and support to the less fortunate.

With an average of 35 volunteers per day, Mary’s Kitchen is able to provide meals and other essential goods (such as clothing and school supplies) to over 200 people every day.

Mary’s Kitchen provides necessities such as: hot meals, mail services, showers, laundry, haircuts, clothes, and much more.

The donations that Mary’s Kitchen receives are food items, personal care products, clothing, and cash. However, paper goods, backpacks, kitchen supplies, sleeping bags and of course cash donation are always in high demand.

Its excess food and clothing is shared among other local shelter and soup kitchen organizations -- nothing is put to waste.

According to Gloria Suess, executive director for Mary’s Kitchen, all cash donations go directly toward maintain ing the services provided for its guests. Therefore, they do not have sufficient money to hire employees. Its website and social media accounts are occasionally managed by volunteers.

Grocery stores that support Mary’s Kitchen are: Sprouts, Ralph’s, Trader Joe’s, Albertsons, and many more. Throughout the summer, donations and volunteer support plummet in comparison to the holiday season, which is typically the busiest time of the year.

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K e y p u b l i c sAs members of the Orange community, we feel that it is necessary to create relationships between local stores, companies, organiza-tions, and Orange residents. Our identified key publics are the Chapman University student body and faculty and the Orange commu-nity. Our partnership between Mary’s Kitchen and the Chapman University student body is the perfect opportunity for the two communi-ties benefit symbiotically from each other. Our neighborhood-centric campaign will allow members of both sectors to come together in a collaborative and mutually beneficial union. We hope that this alliance will strengthen Chapman’s ties to the community of Orange and help align internship and volunteer opportunities more consistently for Mary’s Kitchen. This will give students the ability to work and volunteer as well as provide much needed help to the guests of Mary’s Kitchen.

K e y A u d i e n c e sBased on our situational analysis, census data, primary and secondary research, we identified our primary and secondary audiences.

Located 1.3 miles from Chapman (~4minutes away) in Orange, California, Mary’s Kitchen has been feeding the homeless and helping the less fortunate since 1984. After its relocation in 1994 to 517 W Struck Ave, Mary’s kitchen has continued to expand. Feeding an average of 200 people a day, the kitchen is constantly in need of helping hands as well as supplies. Mary’s is a non for profit organiza-tion, making it heavily reliant upon donations by way of individuals, students, churches, grocery stores, and the local community. It also offers monthly outreach events such as prayer tents, children’s activities, haircuts, clothing giveaways, medical check ups, and foot cleanings. They are open weekdays and weekends until 3pm and have a variety of opportunities for volunteers.

s e c o n d a ry a u d i e n c eMary’s Kitchen

p r i m a ry a u d i e n c eUndergraduate Chapman University Students, ages 18-22

Our primary audience is Chapman University because it accounts for a large portion of the Orange community. Chapman University is an coeducational, mid-sized, liberal arts institution, located in the heart of Old Towne Orange, California. With a total undergraduate student population of 6,281, Chapman attracts an abundance of active, intelligent, diverse, and well rounded individuals, who are eager to partake in on and off campus opportunities. Of the total undergraduate population, 34 percent is involved in greek life (around 2,134 students), with the majority involved some of the 150 clubs offered at Chapman. The gender breakdown of greek life is approximately 40 percent women and 25.1 percent men within 18 chapters. These statistics demonstrate the nature of Chapman’s student body- rich-ly diverse students with individual passions and various involvements. Given these statistics, we feel that they will be willing and apt to work with Mary’s Kitchen. Greek life and many other organizations also require outside volunteer hours for students.

k e y m e s sa g e sTo kick our campaign into full gear, we communicated our four key messages to our primary and secondary audiences.

The average student’s academic career at Chapman is four years long, which is plenty of time to get involved in the local community. We understand that many students are burdened by debt and student loans, but dedicating one’s time is truly invaluable. Any service helps and will not go overlooked or unappreciated.

Helping doesn’t have a price.

A healthy community is a happy community.

When we work together, we can accomplish great things. People want to live in a place that is lively and secure, both of which can only be attained through human interaction. America was conceived upon goodwill and good fortune. It is our duty as an influential organiza-tion to give back to the less fortunate.

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Mary’s Kitchen relies on its volunteers -- they are the lifeblood of the organization, and without them, it is impossible to function. A large reason that people do not volunteer is simply because they are unaware or they uneducated. Therefore, a main goal we hope to achieve through our campaign is to raise awareness and to educate people about Mary’s Kitchen. In order to do so we hope to improve their advertisements and social media accounts. With social media being such a pow-erful tool in today’s society, we believe hanging up flyers and brochures promoting a hashtag and expanding their social media accounts to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will be an outstanding way to spread the word about Mary’s Kitchen.

Another goal we hope to meet through our campaign is providing Mary’s Kitchen with more of the donations they are in need of. For example, many people assume a soup kitchen needs only food donations. Although that is partly true, soup kitchens often accept donations such as paper goods, backpacks, sleeping bags, pots, pans, knives, etc.

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o bj e c t i v e 1Raise awareness of Mary’s Kitchen and our campaign messaging throughout Chapman University’s campus and within our target groups in Orange. We would like to see 70 percent recognition of our campaign among the Chapman student body. We feel that this is a big enough number to have our messages recognized and spread through word of mouth and it also very feasible. We will measure this through online surveys, tabling in the piazza, and social media marketing.

s t r at e gy 1Create a campaign relevant to our target audiences through a series of messages that show the positive impact Mary’s Kitch-en has on the community. Rationale: Trust and interaction between these two communities is vital to attaining mutual understandings and building beneficial relationships.

ta c t i c 1Utilize social media platforms often used by college students (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) to build brand recognition within the Chapman community through daily posts and engaging content. We will achieve this by following and and inviting people to the our pages and links for Mary’s Kitchen.

ta c t i c 2Educate students about the impact of Mary’s Kitchen on the local community by means of interactive games and informational booths both online and on-campus. This will allow the student body as well as the residents to physically see the impact that Mary’s Kitchen is making every day and hopefully motivate them to become a part of the community at Mary’s.

s t r at e gy 2Construct and present two separate presentations to deliver to the Chapman University community as well as to the Orange community (local residents).

Rationale: Interactive presentations allow audiences to better understand and retain the information being presented. The first presentation will be aimed towards students with the motive that these people will want to get involved with Mary’s Kitch-en. The presentations will include hard data and statistics to show how community networking can help gain real life connec-tions, working skills, and provide people with priceless experiences. These statistics will be based off of census surveys and online data sources.The presentation for the community locals will also contain statistics but will be geared towards how the Chapman community will be helping in these endeavors.

ta c t i c 1Utilize and demonstrate core social values held by the Chapman community, such as empathy, compassion, and diversity.

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ta c t i c 2Use a more practical approach to gain participation from the Orange community. Make them aware of the political and economic implications of involvement with the cause by including statistics and examples of potential scenarios.

s t r at e gy 3Create and display guerilla marketing initiatives around Chapman’s campus and around Orange to increase recognition of Mary’s Kitchen.Rationale: Internalization of key messages occurs with consistent contact and exposure.

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Provide Chapman students with incentives to join the cause, such as free Mary’s Kitchen T-shirts, internship opportunities, community service involvement, and free food.

Distribute eye-catching, educational flyers outside local grocery stores, clothing stores, and home goods stores to build brand recognition among and to encourage donations from the neighboring Orange community.

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Engage 50 students and community members in a meeting held at Chapman to converse about ways to strengthen the com-munity and give back to those less fortunate. Convince these publics to volunteer at Mary’s Kitchen.

Engage students on campus to join the #MarysMovement and volunteer at the kitchen.Rationale: By engaging in personal conversations, we can explain the importance of Mary’s Kitchen and the role it plays in helping the community as well as what joining Mary’s Movements means.

Rationale: Shareable qualities are what social media users look for in content. Having the hashtag contest will be a simple way to boost brand awareness.

Create an intimate experience whereby the community works cohesively and consistently with Mary’s Kitchen.

Attract 20 people (both students and community members) to reach out to Mary’s Kitchen, volunteer, and be active on social media.Rationale: By updating and constantly using social media, Mary’s Kitchen will be able to better connect and attract potential volunteers or donors.

Create interactive games in the Piazza such as trivia about homelessness, host events at which individuals with firsthand knowledge of poverty and homelessness speak about their experiences, and build donation recepta-cles to be placed at several locations on campus. Most of these speakers will be guests of Mary’s Kitchen.

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Recreate a tent city on campus to make a statement about homelessness and socioeconomic difficulties. This will be accompanied by facts and debunked myths about the often stigmatized group.

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s t r at e gy 2Attract Chapman students to a Mary’s Kitchen event by promoting the event, putting up flyers, encouraging sign-ups, and reminding students of approaching dates.

Rationale: Chapman students are very involved and driven individuals. By spreading awareness of the event, we will be more likely to attract volunteers and donors.

ta c t i c 1Post flyers around campus, publish upcoming events in Dean Jerry Price’s weekly newsletter, and table in the Piazza.

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ta c t i c 1Table in the Piazza and encourage sign-ups for volunteer opportunities.

Post photos on social media platforms, depicting volunteers having a positive experience at Mary’s Kitchen, as a way to drive community members to sign up for the movement.

s t r at e gy 2Involve Orange residents in in-depth conversations about Mary’s Kitchen and its importance to the community and how peo-ple can help.

ta c t i c 1Publish an informational article about Mary’s Kitchen in the OC Register in order to spread the word and to build its brand recognition.

Rationale: The Chapman community has a huge presence in Old Towne Orange and the students bring a lot of economic value to the town’s small shops and restaurants. By showing Chapman’s involvement with Mary’s Kitchen, we will be able to hopefully attract more community members to join and volunteer.

Strengthen campaign messaging through social media involvement and reach 600 new users within the Chapman community.

Fortify content on social media mediums to reinforce campaign messaging to the students and residing members.

Rationale: Social media is a multifaceted network which allows for many people to see, send, and share content.

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ta c t i c 1Post original, real-time photos from Mary’s Kitchen, giving viewers an inside look into the cause itself, and thus, building empathy for the less fortunate in Orange.

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ta c t i c 2Create giveaways for promotional items such as free tee shirts and other miscellaneous merchandise to encour-age participation from members of the online community, whether they are Chapman students or local residents.

s t r at e gy 2Create social media contests to interact with our audiences. Using the #MarysKitchen, #PricelessPresents, and #MarysMove-ment hashtags on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to motivate and engage our target audiences.Rationale: Social media is a huge touchpoint medium for many people. It is a very quick and efficient way to spread informa-tion to the masses.

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Encourage participants to post their own photos that demonstrate how they help out in their community. In doing so, they will be entered in a drawing to win free Mary’s Kitchen merchandise or gift cards to local businesses.

Encourage participants to post their own photos that depict “priceless moments,” they have experienced. In doing so, they will be entered in a drawing to win free Mary’s Kitchen merchandise or other non-monetary gifts.