Kinecta Federal Credit Union (Kinecta) and Nix Neighborhood Lending's (Nix) 43rd Annual Holiday Food Drive's objective is to recognize unity between the credit union, local nonprofits, and the community coming together to serve 1,000 underserved families during the holiday season.
In 2016, Kinecta and its subsidiary Nix held its 43rd Annual Holiday Food Drive, where Kinecta and Nix collected monetary donations from employees, members, Nix customers, corporate sponsors, and individual donors raising more than $98,000 in donations! As a result, more than 1,000 Los Angeles low-income families enjoyed a better holiday season. Our food drive is unique because we provide each family with a $75 grocery store gift card so they can choose the food items they wish to have at their holiday tables. We also provide additional non-perishable grocery store items to each family.
The goal of our annual campaign is to first and foremost serve our community and help families enjoy the holidays with reassurance that they have food to eat. At the same time, we want to engage our employees, vendors, members and customers by showing them the need and allowing them to help meet the need. From a budget standpoint, our goal was to raise $80,000 in order to serve $1,000 families.
The vendor campaign is an area that was especially impressive, in 2016 alone; our vendor campaign garnered more than $63,000 – the most ever collected by our vendors!
Our vendors, employees, customers and members answered the call and surpassed our monetary goal by donating more than $98,000.
Kinecta and Nix's Holiday Food Drive strategies were based on the fact that many of our community partners/nonprofit organizations lack the resources to meet the needs to assist their members who may not have the means for extra/special food for during the holidays. By hosting a food drive that offers a monetary gift certificate, our neighbors are able to purchase culturally appropriate, fresh and diet-conscious food for their holiday meals.
Several of our strategies were the following:
Detailed communication in English and Spanish, letters, emailers and fundraising opportunities were communicated and sent out to vendors, corporate sponsors, members, customers and employee months in advance of our campaign which took place toward the end of October up until the end of November.
Marketing elements included:
Our campaign highlights include for more than 40 years, Kinecta and its subsidiary Nix have partnered with community-based and faith-based organizations throughout Los Angeles County to identify and provide low-income families with much needed assistance during the holidays, a time of year that can be particularly hard on a family with limited resources. These basic needs provide a sense of hope and community for the families we serve. These families have come to depend on Kinecta and Nix's charitable service during the holiday season.
In addition to Kinecta and Nix vendors providing contributions, during the months of October and November, staff members at Kinecta Member Service Centers and Nix Branch Locations collect monetary donations. This provides an opportunity for members and customers to help support their communities and touch the lives of those with limited resources during the holiday season.
Kinecta and Nix work with 40 local nonprofit organizations and ask them to select the families to receive the support. The nonprofits know which families can benefit most from the event. These nonprofits are on-site on distribution day to hand out the food vouchers and food items.
Some of our community organizations include:
The Nix and Kinecta branches also selected a deserving family from each of their locations, which was over 50 locations.
Kinecta and Nix's Holiday Food Drive was a success demonstrated by our campaign's goal being surpassed and level of turnout responses from our vendors, members, customers, employees. Examples:
Our event's objectives and goals were met due to surpassing our fundraising donation goal, raising more than $98,000 in donations from Kinecta members, Nix customers, corporate sponsors, and individual donors, while working alongside with our community and nonprofit partners and by making our event unique and inspiring, helping feed more than 1,000 Los Angeles-area families, with each family receiving a $75 grocery store gift card, in addition to non-perishable grocery store items.
Our event is unique because it unifies the credit union, members, customers, and community partners with a common good of serving others. In preparation for the event, all participating nonprofits were invited to the Kinecta Headquarters for a continental breakfast and Food Drive presentation. The group was greeted by Kinecta President and CEO Keith Sultemeier and Nix President Luis Peralta. This event demonstrates an effort that is rare and extraordinary as we have our vendor partners not only donating money but also attend the event and work as volunteers.
In addition, over the years former food drive recipients have become regular contributors, giving back to the program that once helped them during a time of need.
