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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Hawaii Meals on Wheels
to get free nourishment
THE nonprofit Hawaii Meals on Wheels Inc. is this year's recipient of Ad2 Honolulu's pro-bono advertising campaign.Ad2 comprises professionals in the advertising industry and related fields who are 32 and younger. Each year it requests entries and selects one nonprofit organization to receive a campaign at no charge. More than 150 organizations applied this year. Campaigns prepared for Ad2's last two recipients each were valued at more than $1 million.
The Ad2 campaign, which is being crafted, will include marketing, public relations and advertising in print and on television and radio. The public service messages should hit Hawaii media outlets by January or February, according to President Dana Lehman.
Employees of Hawaii Meals on Wheels Inc. and Ad2 Honolulu stood earlier this month next to a Meals on Wheels car in Manoa. Meals on Wheels won a free advertising campaign from Ad2 Honolulu, a group of ad industry professionals who help a different nonprofit every year.
Ad2 is not permitted to raises funds for its clients, but it does stage fund-raisers to pay for the campaign's material costs and other expenses.
Volunteers for Meals on Wheels, a 25-year-old organization, deliver hot, nutritious meals and warm human contact to hundreds of homebound elderly and disabled Oahu residents each weekday. That includes weekday holidays, like tomorrow.
Problems of the elderly are "a rising social concern, especially in Hawaii," said Lehman. Meals on Wheels "is a great public service that a lot of people are unaware of."
Meals on Wheels receives appreciative feedback from clients, whose names it keeps confidential.
"Thank you very much for all you do to help the seniors," wrote 73 year-old Mrs. L., a client in Kaneohe. "All your wonderful workers really make the world lighter for many who benefit from your service."
One day Mrs. L failed to answer the door and the volunteer alerted the Meals on Wheels office. It was discovered that she had suffered a stroke and could not call for help. Medical attention was summoned and after hospitalization she is back at home where her hot meal service continues.
Clients are not just the elderly, however. A 43-year-old, Mr. K, suffered a paralyzing stroke and lives alone in Makiki.
"Your service is excellent and your volunteers are all wonderful people," he said. "It is truly a joy to see them."
About 90 percent of the more than 53,000 annual meals the organization serves are delivered by volunteers, some of whom have been with Meals on Wheels since its inception. The organization was founded by nine churches, all of which have maintained ties to Meals on Wheels, and some of the churches still send outreach teams for deliveries.
"Along with that, we do have wonderful corporate partners who have developed (delivery) teams," said Executive Director Allicyn Tasaka. Those partners include Macy's, First Insurance Company of Hawaii Ltd., the Rotary Club of Windward Oahu and the U.S Pacific Command. Additional corporate teams would be more than welcome, she said.
Meals are prepared in eight commercial kitchens at long-term care facilities and hospitals at a cost of $4.80 for a regular meal. Meals prepared to accommodate special diets cost slightly more, but Meals on Wheels eats the additional cost.
Some of its clients pay full price for their meals, but many pay only a portion of the cost and others can't pay at all.
Moneymaking efforts by Meals on Wheels partners such as Finance Factors help a great deal, Tasaka said. "They did a wonderful (fund-raising) breakfast for us this past year, raising $6,000." Company executives got up early to crack eggs, scramble them and serve them with other breakfast items to pre-sale ticket holders and passers-by on Bishop Street.
Meals on Wheels' goal for the freebie campaign is to make more people aware of them, but not just to donate funds.
"We would love to have so many more people do what we do and join us in our mission, because there are so many people out there who need our assistance," she said.
Meanwhile, Ad2 has a three-years-running record of winning the American Advertising Federation's top award for pro-bono campaigns nationwide.
Any pressure?
"I try not to let it get to me," Lehman laughed.