“Community Campaign to Launch YOUR Business”
Harvest the Valley, Harvest the River, and Harvest the Pearl
Harvest the Valley 2009 and 2010, spearheaded by a Financial Company, was a community empowerment initiative developed to fill the Food Bank shelves in the Comox Valley, Campbell River and Powell River. This initiative was designed to make it easier for people to donate and develop a long term solution for hunger in the region.
Over a period of eight days, 8300lbs of non-perishable food items and over $2000 cash was collected by Harvest the Valley partners, volunteers and citizens in the Comox Valley in the first year. In 2010, Campbell River and Powell River joined the challenge with Harvest the Valley and Harvest the Pearl.
The first “Meeting of Like Minds” was held on On August 19th, 2009. Mayors from Comox, Cumberland and Courtenay, Vista Radio, Blackpress , Kickers Ruby club, Glacier Kings hockey, and other business members in the community were invited, with verbal support for this initiative from Emterra, Recycle & Waste management services for the Comox Valley and Campbell River. This first meeting gained support from Political leaders, media, and local businesses. Harvest the Pearl, Powell River, was uniquely designed for community effectiveness.
The goal was to make it easier for people to donate to their local food banks. A curbside pickup of non-perishable food items was planned around Recycle schedule (Emterra) in respective communities. Collectively, paper bags, supplied by Safeway, would be strategically delivered to homes in the region via Black Press Newspapers. Citizens were expected to donate non-perishable food items, place the bag next to their recycle bins on their recycling days.
A strategy was developed for raising the funds required for advertising through additional sponsorship opportunities for local businesses. Volunteers were very successful in raising the sponsorship funds and creating awareness in the business community of the Harvest project.
A press conference was held for the collective partnerships to announce the Harvest projects in each community. Mayors, Regional District representatives, A-channel and reporters from the local newspapers attended. The Harvest projects made the 6:30pm news, the front page (above & below the fold) in local newspapers throughout the region. Local support and marketing was also provided through various service groups and social media.
The “Harvest Team” volunteers consisted of trucks, navigators and harvesters: volunteers to collect the curbside donations. Businesses, local Rugby and Hockey Clubs, CFB Comox, and numerous volunteers signed up to support the Harvest projects. Volunteers participated daily as harvesters, navigators, and sorters throughout the eight days of the Harvest projects.
In 2009, the first week of Harvest the Valley collected over 3500lbs of non-perishable food items. Comox Valley Food Bank volunteers picked up over 1000lbs of food prior to their Thursday Food Bank Day (client day). They had to return for a second load on the Thursday, as they ran out of food for families that very day. The reality of the success of this initiative became prevalent.
The second week of Harvest the Valley, 2009, gained more media attention then expected. We were on A-Channel with a 30second blurb on CTV, a feature piece on Shaw TV “The Daily” (repeated, plus consistent print ads, and Vista Radio, Jet FM, provided phenomenal support of on air radio commercials and an on-site live broadcast.
A single day drop off was set up in each community, with print, radio, television, and social media promoting the events. Media was live on site for drop off days. Companies provided “swag”/promotional material throughout the broadcast to inspire listeners to give. In 2010, the media exploded! Please check out the news clip!
In 2010, the Harvest projects collected over 75,000lbs, and brought on new partnerships with Shaw and Campbell’s Soup. These new partners each matched our 75000lbs +, pound for pound, making the local food banks overflow with donations.
