Helping Hungry Hearts

Months of hard work are finally paying off for one group of public relations students in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Members of Helping Hungry Hearts, a student-run public relations agency, have been working since August on a campaign to raise money and awareness for The Huntington Area Food Bank, said Kaylin Adkins, senior public relations major from Huntington and co-chairwoman of the media relations team for Helping Hungry Hearts.

The agency's main fundraiser is a 5k run/walk scheduled for Saturday at Pullman Square, Adkins said.  Pre-registration for the race was available online until April 3.  Runners can register the day of the race beginning at 8 a.m., and the race will begin at 9 a.m.

"This race was something the food bank had always wanted to do in the past," said Jessica Wintz, senior public relations major from Cyclone, W.Va., and co-chairwoman of the media relations team. "They just didn't have the resources or the man power available to help them put on a race such as this.  This was a really great opportunity to do something unique that The Huntington Area Food Bank had never been affiliated with before."

Adkins said the agency chose a 5k run/walk as their main fundraiser because they thought it would appeal to a wide range of demographics.  

The team began promoting the race at the beginning of the semester, said Ellen Kist, senior public relations major from Parkersburg, W.Va., and chairwoman of the promotions team.  They used a variety of ways to get the word out around campus and the Huntington community, including social media sites Facebook and Twitter, plywood signs, chalking the campus and sending news releases and feature stories to local media outlets.

"Anything you can think of, we did," Kist said.

The race will begin at Pullman Square, Wintz said.  From there, runners will make a left hand turn onto Seventh Street.  They will then turn onto Fifth Avenue and run all the way to 20th Street, where they will run down Marshall Memorial Boulevard between the recreation center and the stadium, turn back onto Third Avenue and finish the race back at Pullman Square. 

  Wintz said she is both nervous and excited for the big event.

 "It's extremely nerve-racking, at least for me," Wintz said. "This is the first time I've ever had any experience with a race. But at the same time, I'm super excited because I know we're getting ready to see all of our hard work paid off."

Adkins said the campaign has become a big part of her life.

"It's more than a grade to me," Adkins said. "Our names are out there.  It's something that we can put our names on.  It's something that we're proud of, and there are a lot of people who have worked really hard up to this point, and we want to see it play out really well.  We want to see it be successful, and I think that our hard work will pay off."

A total of $2,550 has already been raised from pre-registration for the race, said Jessi Weddington, second year graduate student from Hurricane, W.Va., and co-director of Helping Hungry Hearts. So far, 178 people have registered for Saturday's race. 

 "I'm already happy with our results," Kist said.  "I'm hoping we can just get a few more people to register the day of the race."

The group raised $900 from a penny drive held earlier in the semester at local elementary schools, Wintz said. They are planning another penny drive to take place on campus and in local schools later in the semester. 

At the end of the semester, the agency will fully evaluate their campaign, Adkins said. They are planning a survey to assess how the Helping Hungry Hearts campaign has changed people's perceptions and awareness of the food bank. 

Kelsey Thomas can be contacted at thomas336@marshall.edu.