|
Recognizing the Cause
The PR team of KemperLesnik was saddened and moved by the life-changing and life-taking earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12. Although Chicago is 1,833 miles from Port-au-Prince, our hearts went out to the suffering. Nearly half of Haiti’s 10 million people are under 18 years of age; and since the catastrophic earthquake, many have become separated from their families and caregivers. The race to provide them with life-saving emergency food and medicine, safe shelter, protection, and care is underway, but help is still needed.
Working in the media industry, we know how quickly the camera lights can fade; once Anderson Cooper packs up his crew, Haitians will still be left with the daunting task of rebuilding their country’s infrastructure and their families’ lives. The KemperLesnik team decided to host a fundraiser to support these rebuilding efforts.
Assembling the Team
We immediately selected UNICEF as a worthy beneficiary of our fundraiser. UNICEF boots are already on the ground in Haiti doing amazing work on behalf of the displaced and suffering children. The agency turned out to be an amazing partner with invaluable resources and a supportive Chicago staff.
We were fortunate to work with the amazing team at Loft Six Ten, a restaurant and bar in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. The owners of Loft Six Ten opened their doors early on a Wednesday evening and did everything they could to make our event a success; everything from offering special prices so that more funds could be donated to UNICEF to donating free coat check and valet services for our guests.
We are also very thankful for the members of The Kevin Disch Trio, a phenomenal three-piece jazz ensemble, which provided live music for our event throughout the evening. Rounding out our partners, we worked with Chicago-area sports teams, golf courses and companies which donated really fantastic silent auction items to help us raise even more money for the cause. Special thanks to Bolingbrook Golf Club, Bourdage Pearls, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Cubs, The Glen Club, KemperSports and Wilson Golf.
Spreading the Word
The PR team wanted to host its event right away while the Haiti earthquake was fresh on people’s minds, but this presented a challenge; we had to get as many people as possible to attend our event as quickly as possible. We jumped into action, creating a fundraising page on UNICEF’s Web site, including event promotions in our e-bulletin The Leader, posting event information on kemperlesnik.com, and personally distributing e-mail invitations to our clients, colleagues, and friends. We also created a flyer that was prominently displayed at Loft Six Ten and distributed via e-mail to the bar’s database of more than 40,000 people.
Hosting the Bash
On Wednesday, Feb. 3, we arrived at Loft Six Ten and were so excited to open the doors to our guests. We set up the silent auction and a slideshow using UNICEF’s official Flikr photostream. The Loft Six Ten crew worked hard all night to turn their swanky and relaxed bar into the perfect venue for a fundraiser. UNICEF’s Paul Harvey, board chair, and Laura Geiger, development officer at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Midwest Region, spent the evening with us and spoke to the crowd about UNICEF’s on-the-ground operations.
In total, the KemperLesnik PR team raised more than $3,700 to benefit UNICEF’s efforts in Haiti, combining the donations of our guests, online donations and silent auction proceeds. I am so proud of my colleagues and what we accomplished; we really came together and worked quickly and passionately to raise money for a worthy cause.
If you are interested, you may still contribute; check out our links below to join the cause!
Donate to UNICEF’s amazing work on our KemperLesnik team page at: http://inside.unicefusa.org/site/TR?team_id=15540&fr_id=1050&pg=team.
Written by Twitter Handle @susiechangpr
|
