“Share The Dough” Campaign Launched With MEND Hunger Relief Network, Message Community Grocery, To Raise Awareness Of Food Insecurity

ONE IN FIVE CHILDREN GO HUNGRY. ISN’T IT TIME WE STARTED SHARING?

 Stein IAS launches “Share the Dough,” a joint campaign with the Message Community Grocery and MEND Hunger Relief Network to raise awareness of childhood hunger.

At a time when food is produced in abundance, there is no reason anyone should be going hungry – especially children. Yet, one in five children do.  An estimated 1.6 billion tons of food are wasted every year. On top of that, many of the products that food insecure children do have access to are nutritionally lacking. The global pandemic has further exacerbated the problem, which makes fighting childhood hunger so critical today.

Stein IAS Global has joined forces with two charities – the Message Community Grocery, in the UK and MEND Hunger Relief Network in the US – to fight childhood hunger. The campaign, “Share the Dough” (#ShareTheDough), shows that a little bit of generosity can go a long way.

Based in Manchester, UK, the Message Community Grocery provides pop-up grocery shops where families pay a small annual fee to become a member. This allows them to visit a pop-up shop three times a week where they can purchase over 20 items – including fruits, vegetables, frozen items, non-food products, and more. They opened their first grocery shop in Wythenshawe in September 2020 and have now 11 stores across the UK. Message Community Grocery have reached over 10,000 households since then with a goal to support over 20,000,000 families by the end of 2022.

Sam Hawthorne from The Message Trust said: “Initially, we were just for children who weren’t in school anymore but would have qualified for free school meals. Then we realized there were vulnerable families who weren’t at work, or were isolating, or just couldn’t afford to go shopping. We saw there was a real need for more than just hot meals – often people couldn’t afford their weekly shop.”

MEND is a collaborative network of 22-member food pantries located throughout Essex County, New Jersey (Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, Maplewood, Montclair, Newark, Orange, South Orange, and West Orange). Essex County has the highest food insecurity rate in the state. Thirty-six percent of the people MEND pantries serve are children, and the pantries served nearly 400,000 people in 2020. With the creation of a new Fresh Food Hub, MEND supports the food pantry network and community partners by sourcing, storing, and transporting more fresh and healthy food for patrons.

Share the Dough campaign. Image Credit – Stein IAS

“Fresh food access has long been an issue for food pantries because the logistics are difficult to manage, and the cost can be prohibitive. While the numbers of people turning to the pantries grows, food costs rise, supply chain disruptions continue, and the numbers of food drives and volunteers remain uncertain due to the pandemic, MEND is able to provide a steady source of high-quality, culturally-relevant, and often-requested fresh food to the pantry network. Because we convene with the pantry managers regularly, we can respond to their specific needs as they evolve. Our partnership with Stein IAS will help get more needed fresh and healthy food to everyone who is coming to the pantries,” explains Robin Peacock, Executive Director of MEND.

Tom Stein, Chairman and Chief Officer at Stein IAS, says: “With so much focus deservedly on public health and climate change, we now need to re-focus on the massive challenge of childhood hunger. Stein IAS is launching the “Share the Dough” campaign to shine a bright light on this persistent problem and to raise awareness and funds for organizations that are addressing it with passion and innovation.”

The campaign features a video of five kids making a play holiday dinner. But one kid got less than all the others to make his dinner. Can you guess what happened? Watch and share the video to remind everyone that you can fight childhood hunger with one simple action: sharing the dough.

To donate visit WatchShareTheDough.com.

To download images in high definition: https://we.tl/t-I6x9lUVl7W

About MEND Hunger Relief Network:

MEND is an interfaith network of over 20 member food pantries and community partners located throughout Essex County, NJ. Our hunger relief network, the largest in Essex County, has been providing food to individuals and families in need since 1980.

MEND is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that strengthens and supports its food pantry network by providing supplemental fresh and healthy food, funds, volunteers, and a monthly forum for collaboration. MEND also advocates for policies to improve the quality of life for those in need in the County.

Member pantries benefit from MEND’s economies of scale and support, while retaining their independence.

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About Message Community Grocery:

Step inside a grocery and you’ll find a range of food options fresh from local supermarkets, meaning our members can come and shop for their whole family at the fraction of the cost of a supermarket. Whilst also saving hundreds of tonnes of food being wasted each year.

But it’s not just about the food. In each store you’ll also find a range of free support on offer to members. Support like job clubs, money management support, healthy cooking classes, exploring Christianity courses and much more.

About Stein IAS:

Stein IAS are the B2B Originals. From creating the UK’s first specialist B2B marketing agency in 1973 to being the first agency to win ANA B2B Agency of the Year six years in a row, the Agency’s culture and offering are based on original thinking, from customer insights to creative ideas to digital interactions. Most recently, Stein IAS has developed the framework and model to enable its clients to accelerate intelligent growth.

Banner Image: Share The Dough. Image Credit – Stein IAS

Tom Stein

Tom is a founding partner of the Agency and a leader and innovator in B2B marketing for more than 30 years. He has been part of the leadership team that has propelled Stein IAS to global Agency of the Year designation by the Business Marketing Association for an unprecedented five times over seven years (2016, 2015, 2013, 2011 and 2010). Tom also was inducted into the Creative Excellence in Business Advertising (CEBA) Hall of Fame in 2008, and was named to the “Who’s Who in B2B Marketing” list for 13 straight years. Tom is closely involved in the Agency’s strategic relationships with clients. He has helped establish and strengthen such relationships with such brands as Merck, HSBC, NCR, Western Union Business Solutions, Juniper Networks, ABB, Ingredion, Samsung and many others. Tom and Stein IAS continue to evolve its Mi3 process, the most advanced and integrated process system connecting strategic insights, digital interactions, and creative/content Inventions to drive brand and revenue momentum for the Agency’s clients. Tom also is closely involved in advancing Stein’s industry-leading capabilities on marketing technology, data science, AI and machine learning, AR/VR/MR, and intelligent experiences. Most importantly, Tom endeavors valiantly (if sometimes vainly) to balance leading an amazing, global B2B agency with helping his beloved wife Gina raise their amazing twins.