Ad Council’s Houston Leadership Committee Combats Hunger

35,000 Houstonians Struggle with Hunger Every Day

HOUSTON – The Ad Council’s Houston Leadership Committee, in partnership with Feeding America and the Houston Food Bank, has announced that they will be supporting a public service advertising campaign designed to fight the growing hunger epidemic in the Greater Houston area. The campaign focuses on raising awareness of the Summer Food Service Program, which provides free meals to children during the summer months when they do not have access to subsidized school meals.

According to a recent report, an estimated 35,000 people go hungry each day in Houston. The Summer Food Service Program campaign, which launched in early June and runs through August, seeks to educate eligible families on how to provide their children with nutritious meals throughout the summer months when they do not have access to subsidized school meals. Additionally, the Houston Leadership Committee will be supporting the Ad Council’s ongoing “1 in 8” Hunger Prevention campaign, which was launched in partnership with Feeding America in November 2008. The campaign opens viewers’ eyes to the fact that 1 in 8 Americans, including people they interact with on a daily basis, are not certain where their next meal is coming from.

The Ad Council’s Hunger Prevention and Summer Food Service Program campaigns utilize television, radio, print, outdoor and online advertising donated by area-wide media and is supported by the Ad Council’s Houston Leadership Committee, which includes: Alex Lopez Negrete, president of Lopez Negrete Communications; Craig Bland, president and general manager of KXLN-TV and KFTH-TV; Laura Morris, media consultant; Larry Blackerby, vice president and general manager of KPRC-TV; and Melissa Stevens, president of FKM.

“Many people believe that hunger is confined to the homeless or people they see on street corners,” says Melissa Stevens, president of independent advertising agency FKM and a member of the Ad Council’s Houston Leadership Committee. “The truth is that hunger is a serious problem in our region. The Ad Council campaigns give us the opportunity to help Houstonians who live in food-insecure households obtain assistance that is vital to their well being.”

The Ad Council’s campaigns could not come at a better time for the Houston Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that feeds more than 80,000 hungry people each week in southeast Texas.

“The past year’s economic downturn has increased demand for emergency food assistance in Houston by almost 20 percent,” says Betsy Ballard, chief communications officer of the Houston Food Bank.

The Summer Food Service Program campaign directs Houstonians to visit the Houston Food Bank’s website at www.houstonfoodbank.org to learn more about how they can help support the Houston Food Bank and get involved in ending hunger in Houston. The national PSA campaign directs Americans to visit www.feedingamerica.org to learn more about how to get involved.

“On behalf of the Ad Council and our local Houston Leadership Committee, we are grateful to media outlets throughout the Houston area for donating their valuable inventory to support these critical efforts,” said Tim Davis, executive vice president, media for the Ad Council.

The Advertising Council

The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization that marshals volunteer talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to deliver critical messages to the American public. The Ad Council produces, distributes and promotes thousands of public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies in issue areas such as improving the quality of life for children, preventative health, education, community well being, environmental preservation and strengthening families.