Springfield's First Food Day Celebration

This Saturday, the Springfield community came together to celebrate National Food Day for the first time.  It was $2 to get in and all the proceeds went to Ozarks Food Harvest. It was the perfect match for fundraising and fun!

I volunteered with the beau's pre-professional society and happened to be paired with some PRSSA members too. We had fun selling Smart chicken sandwiches and Quinoa salad from Momma Jean's. 

The Wilhoit Plaza was a great place for an outdoor event downtown! And the weather was beautiful, even in the middle of October.

I absolutely adored chatting with those girls. That is why I love volunteering. You never know who you will meet. 

Every moment is a moment for networking!

And Ozarks Food Harvest is such a good cause! I interned their the summer before last, and I just keep coming back because they are such a great community organization!

Do you have a place you always volunteer at?

-Beth

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Feeding People

This week I got to "return to my roots".

PRSSA & Lambda Pi Eta (Communication Honor Society) teamed up for an awesome volunteer effort at Ozarks Food Harvest!

(I may have been a bit bias in my planning, but it is such a good cause!)

Two girls went with me (Susan & Tara), 

and we had a blast with this other older group.

Our job was to pack food boxes after the others sorted through dented cans and expired foods.

It was neat to be a part of tangibly feeding people  who need it most. 

Our volunteer supervisor told us we pack about 6,000 pounds of food (if I remember right),

or what they normally pack in 6 hours.

Yeah, teamwork!!!

It was great to return to my internship location and give back again!

If you are ever looking for a place to give back in the Ozarks,

check Ozarks Food Harvest out!

They are doing so much to reach a significant problem in the community.

Lindsay's current intern, Sara, and her put together this new awesome video to.

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I Got a Pen

 So I got a new pen this week...

This doesn't mean a whole lot to any of you, but the reason I got the pen means a lot to me. 

I am a PR student, as you may know. This semester, I was in Dr. Dyer's Public Relations Writing Class. We got "clients" to write our pieces on; mine was AIDS Project of the Ozarks. And Dr. Dyer always encouraged us to get our work published.

Well, this past Wednesday, I had my first PR piece published in the Springfield News-Leader.

Dr. Dyer promised a pen if we got published. It says: 

"Personal Excellence Award

Dr. Dyer says: Well Done".

I have had pieces in the paper before, but not like this one. The News-Leader did not ask me to write it (nor did they pay me for it); I annoyed them until they put it in the paper. Well, annoy might be a strong word--you get the picture.

Do you know what the best part was though? The first person to congratulate me that I did not tell was my former supervisor at Ozarks Food Harvest. Lindsey Neddenriep tagged me in a her Facebook status, and it made my day.

The best part of the pen is it lights up!

If the coolness of this pen is any indicator of my future in PR, I would say it is bright! ;)

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Wine, Fashion, and Beer

So this semester has been a successful one for Community Relations in PRSSA at Missouri State, if I do say so myself.

In one week, we volunteered at a Wine Tasting at MacDoodles for GYN Cancer Alliance, walked the runway for a Girls Night Out at Talbots for Ozarks Food Harvest, and put on Beerfest at the Shrine Mosque for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks.

Here are some pictures to enjoy: 

Wine Tasting for GYN Cancer Alliance

"Girls Night Out" for Ozarks Food Harvest

Lindsey, PR Manager at OFH, could not help but try on an outfit even though she was not planning on being a model.

All fashion show photos are from http://www.facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest

Sorry, no photos from Beerfest because I did not attend, but I hear great things from my fellow PR volunteers. And I look forward to what next semester holds for PRSSA!

P.S. Wednesday is World AIDS Day, and I plan on spending it at the Candlelight Vigil at Founder's Park in Springfield, MO sponsored by AIDS Project of the Ozarks. The event starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 6 p.m. Please consider attending to support the people in our community struggling with this terrible disease. If you cannot make that, mark December 6th on your calendar because Jeanne White-Ginder is speaking at MSU in honor of World AIDS DAY.

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Community Relations for PRSSA

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So this year, I have decided to get more involved on campus at Missouri State. I mean, I am junior, so it is now or never.

Last year, my lovely aunt, who is a PR professor at Belmont, paid my membership for PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) for Christmas. And this year, I am co-chair with Andrea Lensing for Community Relations. I am so excited!

This job suits me so well because I am already plugged in the Springfield community and want to help a of these non-profits any way I can, and now, I have an outlet for that.

website

Basically, we want to help volunteer at a different non-profit event each month, to get our organization's name out there and get more involved in the community. This Friday, we are volunteering at "Halloween Night at the Museum" at the Discovery Center. We get to dress up and help kids have an educational, fun Halloween.

Next month, we are also planning to help Ozarks Food Harvest's Fashion Show. This one is dear to my heart because of my internship with them this summer. I am excited to be a part of them in a small way again.

This chair position has also made me realize that I could potentially love working in Community Relations for an organization. So if non-profit PR doesn't happen for some reason, I have something to fall back on. :) Pin It

My Way to Fight Hunger

www.hungeractionmonth.org

September is Hunger Action Month. 


What is Hunger Action Month? It is a month dedicated to hunger awareness in America hosted by Feeding America and its network of food banks. I interned at Ozarks Food Harvest, the southwest Missouri food bank, and learned so much about hunger. There are so many people struggling for survival in America especially in the Ozarks. Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans struggle with food insecurity? Did you know that 1 out of 4 children in the Ozarks struggle with food insecurity?


Hunger is a serious problem in our society that can be fixed with people who are willing to fight the fight. My Way to Fight Hunger is to blog about it and volunteer at Ozarks Food Harvest whenever I can. I also took the pledge to fight hunger. Did you know that if you take the pledge to fight hunger at Ozarks Food Harvest's website you can help them win a truckload of food? 


There are so many ways you can help Ozarks Food Harvest and Feeding America. You can donate food, money, or your time. I challenge you to take the pledge to fight hunger and to check out Ozarks Food Harvest's website for more ways to help our community: www.ozarksfoodharvest.org.


Be a neighbor to those struggling with hunger in our very own backyards. Blogging and volunteering is my way to fight hunger. What is YOURS?


Let us find better way TOGETHER!


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