By ANTHONY BOTTAN
Richner Communications Creative Director, Jeff Negrin, and the publisher's assistant, Dianne Ramdass, played an integral role in getting the campaign off the ground, and the two were awarded for their efforts at the Island Harvest board of directors meeting on July 14. The fundraising effort, an envelope mailing campaign, distributed donation envelopes to more than one million homes on Long Island through myriad media outlets. Negrin helped design the envelope and Ramdass coordinated the printing and mailing.
"We tried to do something that pulled at the heart strings," Negrin said about the envelope that featured a child eating spaghetti. "We wanted it to make it real and personal."
Ramdass said it was her pleasure to be a part of a such a philanthropic campaign. "It was an honor, but it wasn't necessary," she said of receiving her award. "I was more than happy to do it."
Stuart Richer, publisher of the Heralds and executive board member of Island Harvest, came up with the idea for the unprecedented campaign that combined local newspapers and radio stations to raise money for the hungry on Long Island. "These are our neighbors," Richner said. "You see people that you never would expect that need food." The minimum donation was $10, he said, and that small amount could feed a hungry child for a week. He said he expects the donations to increase by the holiday season and the goal of the campaign is to raise $40,000.
CEO and President of Island Harvest Randi Dresner said that according to a 2006 study, there are more than 260,000 starving people on Long Island — or one out of 10 people — and about 93,000 are children. "It is important that the public understands that there is a problem," Dresner said. "It could be their neighbor. Long Island always steps up and performs and that's why this campaign was so successful."
Dave Widmer, president and general manager of the Long Island Radio Group, said the idea of the campaign was to generate awareness that there is a hunger problem on Long Island. "Awareness leads to caring, and caring is the first step in giving," Widmer said.
