Party For Good!!!

Helping out the community? That's one of Targets top priorities! 

Target hosted "Party for Good: Making Meals to Feed Young Minds" on June 29, 2010. The event was located at the NYC Food Bank at Basketball City (Pier 36 at South Street).Six days were utilized to get ready for this event. Target teamed up with the National Conference on Volunteering and Service along with The Food Bank for NYC to provide over 150,000 meals to families in need! More than 5,000 volunteers from the 2010 National Conference gave a helping hand and many celebrities such as Gavin DeGraw!

With a motto like making meals to feed young minds Target was able to gain the support of thousands through this event. A press release describing the nature and purpose of the event was sent out not only by Target but by both organizations it had teamed up with! Celebrities also promoted the event on their Facebook and Twitter pages. PR Newswire published the news release. The published news release found on sites such as PR Newswire, Forbes, and The Street could be tweeted and liked by Twitter and Facebook users, which helped the event gain more attention.

All this publicity made it possible to have enough helping hands to make enough meal kits for families of four to feed each family member for three days, with three meals each per day. Not only did Target team members come out for the event but celebrities did too!

By coming together to reduce the amount of hungry families in NYC, Target stands by their commitment to their communities! The food was supplied and packed by Target employees and other volunteers that attended the event. Drinks and sanitation needs were provided by Coke and Proctor & Gamble. It just goes to show you that people will and do come together for a good cause! In this case it was to help feed the starving families of NYC.

Donating to The Food Bank of New York City is just one way that Target gives back to the community. Party For Good was part of their Meals for Minds project that started last May that actually gave schools food to help out students in need! By providing and donating food to schools hunger will be reduced and students will have a better chance at exceeding academically.

Party for Good  provided an atmosphere where people were able to have fun by giving back to their community. A free buffet was provided by Target, open bar, and music! Even the entrance to the event was modeled as if you were walking into an event such as the MTV Awards, complete with red carpet and camera crews! Target is known as one of the largest corporate philanthropists and they love to give back! This event was a perfect way to give back to the community and involve others to help out too! The ending results were fantastic!

Their goal of meals was met and over 5,000 people came and contributed. What more could Target have asked for? By working with volunteers from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service and the Food Bank of NYC, Target was able to promote the event to get enough press at the event and enough people too! By working with other programs Target was able to use their own team members but others too. Celebrities who take time to volunteer also came out to support the event. American Idol star Katharine McPhee's performance was a hit that night.

The only thing that I personally would have done differently for this event was allow outsiders to help out. Instead of just opening the event to members of each organization and celebrity volunteers I would have allowed for the residents of NYC to contribute too. Target should have tweeted the event and posted a status on Facebook stating that people could donate money to the event to help out NYC families in need.

Yet Target was able to communicate with other organizations to plan an event that helped families across NYC! With great employee communication, their previous efforts of giving back to the community, and their pitch line was able to hook and string in enough support! Targets news release was sent out and published online by many media outlets. Celebrities even tweeted they were coming to the event which helped bring in more! Timeliness is key and the story was published the morning of the event on many different PR sites. Along with extensive planning beforehand to ensure a great event.

Overall Targets Party for Good event was a success!