MC4005 Dr.

Jinx Broussard April 27, 2015

Rachel Aillet Account Liaison
Zach Andrus Account Liaison
Kallan Mudd Strategy Director
Logan Horton Research Director
Brogan Taj Event Director
Christain Undag Design Director
Adrian Wintz Writing Director

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................3
Situation Analysis........................................................................4
SWOT..................................................................................6
Research........................................................................................7

Secondary Research...........................................................8

Primary Research.............................................................10
Key Publics.................................................................................13
Goals and Objectives................................................................15
Themes and Messages...............................................................20
Timeline.....................................................................................22
Budget.........................................................................................24
Summary of Special Events......................................................25

Events for Awareness.......................................................25

Educational Events..........................................................26

Mental Health Awareness Week....................................27
Social Media Presence..............................................................28
Evaluation...................................................................................31
Stewardship................................................................................35
Reflections..................................................................................36
Bibliography...............................................................................38

Introduction
The Mental Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes advocacy and educates on mental illness
and related issues in the Baton Rouge community. The mission of MHA
is to provide services for persons with or at risk for mental health and
substance abuse issues. In the 2015 spring semester, seven Louisiana State
University public relations students came together and formed Illustrious
Communications. Throughout the semester, the group worked with MHA
to execute a strategic implementation plan to not only raise awareness about
mental health in the community, but to also garner funding to combat
recent budget cuts. Together, MHA and Illustrious communications, sought
to beat the odds and end the stigma of mental illness in the Baton Rouge
community.

Situation Analysis
The Mental Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHA)
is a nonprofit organization that has been serving adults with
(or at risk of) mental illness or substance abuse since 1954.
MHAs clients come from the ten parish area surrounding
Baton Rouge including East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge,
Ascension, Iberville, Livingston, St. James, East Feliciana, West
Feliciana, Pointe Coupee and St. Helena. MHA has three main
departments; the Alliance House Drop In Center, the Residential
Center, and the BRIDGES program.
The main issues MHA is currently facing are an extreme lack
of funding and short depth in community reach. Our goal is to
pull donors leading up to MHAs big fundraising event, Beat The
Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction on April 30. We also plan
to extend MHAs reach of awareness within the Baton Rouge
community: older residents with average to higher range income
and college age students in the LSU community.

Situation Analysis
Internal
There are five people working in MHAs Administrative Office, three
in the Drop-In Center (DIC) and two in the Residential Center. We
conducted some of our primary research through interviewing two of the
Administrative staff and were told that about 98.67 percent of every dollar
that MHA receives from the government goes towards covering costs of
the free facilities. With a small staff many employees must take on multiple
job titles and duties, hindering proper awareness efforts. For example,
because the Public Relations coordinator is also the Development and
Communications Director and Fund Specialist, MHAs social media pages
and website lack updated information and discourages viewers to pursue the
organization and its events. Overall, the staff is so consumed by constantly
having to pull funds, search for donors and request for grants that their
advocacy efforts usually suffer as a result.

External
MHA is funded by grants and fundraising but the organization is constantly
fighting to stay afloat financially. The DIC used to be able to offer three
meals a day to its members through a $25,000 grant from the Walmart
Foundation State Giving Program, however due to other non-profit
organizations competing for the same funding, MHA was not able to attain
the grant this year. MHAs struggle to acquire donated funds and sponsors
also stems from an unpleasant stigma that mental illness has in the public
eye. People arent particularly keen to donate when they find out that MHA
also serves recovering addicts, and without the proper education (MHA not
being able to raise awareness effectively), publics turn away from idea of the
helping the organization.

SWOT
One of MHAs greatest strengths is the determination
of the staff. They are all extremely dedicated to getting
the best for their members and working hard on a daily
basis.
Its main weakness is not having enough resources to fully
take care of its members; they are constantly moving
funds around and taking away features of the programs
in order to accommodate anything from budget cuts to
lack of staff.
With our help, MHA has an opportunity to extend its
awareness by revamping its social media platforms with
better content to pull more followers or likes. There are
opportunities for MHA to tap into new publics that it has
not yet ventured to contact.
The threats that MHA faces is having to constantly
compete with other nonprofit organizations for donors
and overcoming peoples resistance to understand what
mental health means.

Research
Over the past four months, Illustrious Communications
has conducted research about our client, the Mental
Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHAGBR).
The communications group gathered primary sources of
information directly from our client, including Director
of Development and Communications Jenny Ridge,
Executive Director Melissa Silva and MHA clients, which
allowed us to obtain relatable, first-hand experiences
that serve as both quantitative and qualitative sources of
information.
The final portion of our research was dedicated to
secondary sources. These sources were used to localize
mental health to the greater Baton Rouge area, as well
as obtain a wealth of information and statistical data
on mental health itself. This information was used in
multiple presentations, pitch letters, and press releases
in order to raise awareness on the issues and status of
mental illness and substance addiction in the Baton
Rouge community.

Secondary Research
I. Quantitative
1. National Alliance on Mental Illness
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nations largest grassroots mental
health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans
affected by mental illness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness,
Louisiana has a mental health grade of 3, which is the equivalent of a D. According to
another report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Louisiana has improved
training for mental health care providers. However, many people with serious mental
illnesses lack access to treatment, ending up in jail or emergency rooms. Those in the
field are generally caring just overloaded, according to a parent quoted in the report.
Hospital stays for my daughter have been too short to assure stability, resulting in
subsequent hospitalization soon after discharge.
2. National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead federal agency for research
on mental disorders. In 2010, an estimated 45.9 million adults aged 18 or older in the
United States had a mental illness in the past year. This represents 20 percent of all adults
in this country. In 2012, there was an estimated 43.7 million adults aged 18 or older with
any mental illness (AMI), which represents 18.6 percent of all U.S. adults. AMI is defined
by the NIMH as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder, diagnosable currently
within one year or of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria specified within the
fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
However these statistics do no include substance abuse disorders such as drug or alcohol
related disorders (NIHM).

Secondary Research
II. Qualitative Data
1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the leading national public
health institute of the United States. According to the CDC, a study in 2007 showed that
32.7 percent of Louisiana residents surveyed view themselves as caring and sympathetic
to persons with mental illness, which was among the six highest state percentages over
the 35 states surveyed.

Primary Research
I. Quantitative
1. Interview with Communications & Development Director Jenny Ridge

On February 3, 2015, Illustrious Communications held an initial meeting with MHACommunications and Development
Director Jenny Ridge. Over the course of the two-hour meeting, Ridge informed us of the status of MHA and its affiliate
programs. Since 1954, the Mental Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHA) has been serving adults with or
are at risk of mental illness and substance abuse across Louisiana. MHA currently operates in ten parishes, including
East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville, Livingston, St. James, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Pointe
Coupee and St Helena. The organization is comprised of three main consumer service programs: the Alliance House
Drop In Center (DIC), Alliance House Residential Center (AHRC) and the Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and
Goals through Education and Support (BRIDGES) program. According to Ridge, most of MHAs funding is being cut
and limited from the government, making fundraising and donations MHAs financial backbone. 98 cents of every dollar
received is directly used for MHA client and event implementation. In 2014, 99% of the MHAs Drop In Center clients
remained free of in-patient hospitalization, saving the Baton Rouge community more than $1,000,000.
2. Alliance Drop In Center Tour & meeting with executive director Melissa Silva
On February 3, 2015, Illustrious Communications sent two of its members, Logan Horton and Rachel Aillet, to the
Alliance Drop In Center in order to gather more information about how to directly benefit the Drop In Center (DIC), as
well as to meet with MHAs executive director Melissa Silva for the first time.
The DIC has a variety of opportunities for its clients, who are welcome during the facilitys hours from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The DIC is a consumer-run program that serves individuals diagnosed with mental illness. The DIC provides self-help,
educational, recreational and socialization services designed to enable its clients to be successful in all aspects of their
lives.
Horton and Aillet were given a tour around the centers facilities. The DIC is a one-story building with multiple rooms
for client activities. The computer lab was equipped with a few older PC models, allowing typing and computer practice
for clients preparing for transition into the job field. The recreation room included a billiards table and used pieces of
exercise equipment, including a treadmill and elliptical machine. Towards the back of the facility, there is a small library
area with donated books and novels for clients to enjoy. Finally there is the largest room known as the meeting room. It
is here that consumer-run classes are taught to fellow drop-in clients, as well as creative activities including crafts and
painting.
The tour provided insight into what the centers current situation and needs included. According to Silva and assistant
program director Brenda Philson, awareness of the program and donations are vital especially with harsh budget cuts
looming overhead, as programs like the DIC are usually the first to be trimmed from the government budget. In 2014,
The Walmart Foundation State Giving Program awarded MHA $25,000 in February to help fund the Hot and Healthy
Lunch Program at the Alliance House Drop In Center. However, they did not receive the grant this year so they will not
be able to provide meals to the individuals who visit the DIC on a regular basis. Another need was toiletries because
many of the DIC clients live below the poverty rate. These donations would help feed and prepare clients who are attempting to enter the job field, as well as promote the effectiveness of the program.
3. Alliance House Residential Center initial tour & meeting with director Dorothy Rene Thomas.
On February 4, Rachel Aillet visited the Residential Center on her own to get a glimpse of how it is run. She spoke with
the directors and clients of each house (one for men and one for women) and took a tour of the facilities. Upon entering
the program, clients have three weeks to find a job to start generating income. They are required to save all of their
earnings in order to make transitioning back into life outside the center smoother. Within the six months of their stay,
the clients have access to emotional and mental support that aid in their recovery process, such as spiritual/religious
and self-help reading materials, and a nightly life skills meeting that combines both houses to address everyones daily
progress or struggles. Aillet sat in on the life skills meeting and observed the interaction and guidance the clients receive
from the directors and each other.

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Primary Research
II. Qualitative Research

1. Interviews with current Alliance House Residential Center and Alliance Drop In Center clients.

On March 9, 2015, Illustrious Communications members Christian Undag, Kallan Mudd and Adrian Wintz
visited both the DIC and AHRC to interview current clients about the program and their experiences
throughout their tenure.
At the AHRC and DIC, Undag, Mudd and Wintz conducted interviews and capture photographs of clients.
In respect of these men and women who are in the process of recovery and rehabilitation, they will be only
be referred to by their first names to maintain personal confidentiality. The interviewees from the DIC include Theresa, Henry, Martha, Sherman and Joe.
Theresa has been able to take advantage of the arts program and has described it as awesome. Henry
appreciates the educational workshops and has been attending the DIC since 1997. According to Henry,
the DIC gives people with mental illness a voice. Henry currently serves on the Mental Health Board
for Louisiana and goes to the house five days a week. We are more than our illness, said Henry. Martha
has been attending the center for two years and has tutored 17 other clients for their General Education
Diploma (GED), proving the effectiveness and value of the DIC program. Sherman has been attending the
DIC for five years. His goal was to obtain a job and now he has one. Sherman visits the DIC every weekday
morning before going to his job in the afternoon. Joe has been attending the DIC for almost 30 years and
enjoys the creative writing activities.

Joe posing for a close-up at the DIC.

At the AHRC, Illustrious Communications was able to interview nine residents including Dana, Michael,
Andrew, Sylvester, Danielle, Brandy, Leomondos and Beth. Dana has been a member of the program for two
months after being in and out of recovery for eight years, but has already obtained a job with Community
Coffee, and enjoys the structured environment of the program. Michael has been a resident for six weeks
and feels as though living here has taught him the value of responsibility. Andrew and Sylvester are both
recent AHRC clients who have enjoyed the helpful staff and the different way of thinking the program has
provided. Danielle has been struggling with addiction and appreciates the programs services that help her
recover and improve at a friendlier pace than most rehabilitation facilities shes attended. Brandy has been
attending for seven weeks and attested to the vitality of the program, stating, houses like this let people
know that there is help and you dont have to struggle alone with your addiction.

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Primary Research

Danielle (left) and Brandy (right) enjoying each others company at the AHRC.
For AHRC clients like Leomondos and Beth, theyre proud of getting clean and appreciate the tough love
provided to them through the AHRCs rules and regulations for its residents.

Leomondos gives a smile as he celebrates his 30th day being drug free.
These interviews and personal accounts were able to give Illustrious Communications a more personalized
face to MHAGBR, providing opportunities to make our campaign one that our publics can relate to.

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Key Publics
Primary Publics
Being a nonprofit organization, MHA mostly depends on grants, sponsorships, and donations to fund their community services and events. While they have no problem enlisting
volunteer members to participate in leading their programs, MHA faces greater obstacles
in acquiring the funds needed to provide these programs and events, such as the Alliance
House Centers and the Beat The Odds annual fundraiser.
To procure such benefactors, MHA seeks mutually beneficial engagement with their
primary publics, so that collaboration serves the interests of both parties. These primary
publics consist of all potential sponsors or donors, such as other mental health advocacy
organizations, local businesses, and individuals with disposable income. These different
audiences contribute to MHA in varying degrees, but all donations are recognized with
due respect.
Other mental health advocacy organizations are a key active public for MHA because their
policies and issues are directly aligned with MHAs. For example, one of these publics is
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroners Office, a government agency whose jurisdiction
includes mental health investigation, medicolegal death investigation, forensic pathology
services, and sexual assault investigation in collaboration with Sexual Trauma Awareness
and Response Center. (ebrcoroner). For this campaign, MHA collaborated with the
Coroners Office to host The Medicine Behind the Badge, the Role of the Coroner in
Louisiana, an event held to educate the community about the coroners duties concerning
mental health, as well as promote MHAs involvement with the cause.
Local businesses are a key latent public that MHA can provide philanthropic opportunities
to through the needed donations and sponsorships. Monetary donations are always
gratefully accepted, but more tangible donations are equally welcomed. Restaurants,
hotels, and other businesses in the area have donated items, such as bottles of wine and gift
cards, for use as raffle ticket prizes and silent auction items. While MHA relies on these
businesses to make philanthropic investments, the goodwill is reimbursed through MHA
exposing their benefactors brands to the community alongside their name.
Individuals with disposable income usually are among the middle age range group, with
with an above-average annual salary. These individuals are more than welcome to make
donations, but this latent public is the main target audience MHA aims to attract to their
fundraising and awareness events.
Along with benefactors, potential clients and related persons are another key primary
public MHA pays attention to. These clients are the active publics this organization is
catered to serve.

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Key Publics
Secondary Publics
MHAs secondary publics consist of audiences that might find MHAs cause
relevant, even if they arent directly affected by the organization or issue itself.
These secondary publics consist of students in the local area and established media
outlets, both being groups who may develop a potential interest in mental health.
Students in the Baton Rouge area are an apathetic secondary public that can be
converted into an aware public through proper campaigning. These students are
going to become future community leaders, donors, and even possible clients, so
exposing them to MHAs mission early on in life will leave a lasting impression.
The technology of today is developing as fast as the students do, so connecting
with the generation who understands the power of social media is necessity for
MHAs success in the future.
Media outlets, such as WAFB and WBRZ, are latent secondary publics that
MHA can reach out to in order to communicate their messages through a wider
medium. In fact, these two example media outlets came to the Coroners event to
document the presentation.

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Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: To increase awareness and positive perception of the Mental Health
Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHA) within the LSU student body, as well as
the Baton Rouge community.
Objective 1: To educate at least 200 members of the Baton Rouge community with
an interest in mental health of MHAs important role in the community in order to
acquire donations, sponsorships and increase event attendance.
Strategy 1: To increase awareness of MHA through community participation in events
sponsored by MHA and obtain the support of local organizations to assist in community recognition.

Tactics:
Send press releases detailing upcoming MHA events to local Baton Rouge
news and radio stations, including but not limited to: WBRZ, WAFB,
the Scotty Drake show, Dig magazine, The Advocate, 225 and KLSU to request
an appearance on air to speak about MHA.

Send pitch letters to health related organizations including but not limited to:
LSU Psychology Department, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Our Lady of the
Lake Hospital, LSU Baptist ministry, Knights of Columbus and the LSU
Foundation to request a meeting to discuss fundraising approaches.

Update community calendars by March 10, 2015 with the Beat the Odds and
The Medicine Behind The Badge events.

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Goals and Objectives

Objective 2: To reach out to at least 300 LSU students/ social media users
and encourage mental health awareness
Strategy 1: To execute Mental Health Awareness Week on LSU campus from
April 13 to April 17, 2015 in order to raise awareness within a younger demo
graphic through physical outreach
Tactics:

Distribute 250 fliers to LSU students in Free Speech Alley with MHAs

social media handle names to gain followers and extend online reach.

Create an interactive game with facts and prizes to engage LSU
students.

Collect 100 toiletry items through a drive within the Panhellenic

houses to donate to MHAs Residential Center.

Strategy 2: To create a personal connection between the publics and MHAs work in
the community
Tactics:

Create Faces of MHA Facebook campaign that showcases several

MHA clients personal stories and how MHA is helping them.

Write personal blog posts that reflect each group members personal
connec tion with mental health, what it means to them and what they
have gained from working with MHA over the semester.

Condense each blog post into a shorter caption to be posted on each

members own Facebook page.

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Goals and Objectives

Objective 3: To secure 250 attendees for the event, The Medicine Behind the Badge,
the Role of the Coroner in Louisiana on April 1, 2015.
Strategy 1: Increase awareness of the event throughout the Baton Rouge/LSU community.
Tactics:

Acquire underwriting on the KLSU radio station that will play

throughout the week leading up to the event on April 1, 2015.

Push digital fliers and details of the event through the community
event magazine, Dig.

Create content for MHAs social media channels promoting the

Coroners event.

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Goals and Objectives

Goal 2: To assist MHA in its fundraising efforts by acquiring donations and sponsorships from individual and/or corporate sponsors.
Objective 1: Obtain silent auction items and donations with a minimum total value
of $1,000 to successfully execute MHAs Beat the Odds fundraising event on April 30,
2015.
Strategy 1: Create and promote A Year of Dining raffle that will be given away at
Beat the Odds April 30.
Tactics:

Contact local restaurants to acquire 12 in-kind dinner donations.

Contact local alcohol retailers to acquire 12 in-kind bottles of wine.

Design a raffle ticket to be sold at $10 with the list of restaurant gift cards
included and raffle information.

Strategy 2: Obtain a minimum of 20 items from local businesses and artists for the
silent auction at Beat the Odds April 30.

Tactics:

Contact businesses including but not limited to: Kendra Scott, LAuberge,

Tobasco, Melissas Salon, Bayou Rum and Zappos to obtain donated
merchandise.

Reach out to friends and family with artistic capabilities and local artists to
donate artwork and/or photography.

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Goals and Objectives

Objective 2: To increase ticket sales of Beat the Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction
from 175 to 250.
Strategy 1: Increase awareness of the event through social media networking
Tactics:

Create a Facebook event for Beat the Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction
Utilize the hashtag #BeatTheOdds to connect all our posts into a unified,
searchable topic and create an online conversation.

Create Bet You Didnt Know Facebook campaign that consisted of a variety

of types of people holding a poster with a mental health statistic and using our
hashtag.

Create online flier for MHAs Facebook cover photo to use and send out
with pitch letters informing businesses/organizations of the event.

Create and maintain a MHA Instagram account throughout the semester.

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Theme and Messages

The goal of the hashtag, #BeatTheOdds, which was used throughout the entirety
of the campaign was to convey a message that promoted positivity in the midst
of such a huge problem in Baton Rouge and even the nation as a whole. Our
desire was for the public to understand that there are sources of support and
help in the community that can allow individuals to beat the odds regarding
mental illness and the stigmas that come with them. We also wanted citizens to
understand that while they may not be currently affected by mental illness, there
is a significant chance that they or someone that they know will be affected in
some way later in their lives. This hashtag was used to shed a positive light on the
issue while still offering a source for support should they need it.
The hashtag, named for MHAs annual event, was used hand-in-hand with each
social media post that our group made, whether it was the Faces of MHA or Bet
You Didnt Know campaigns, links to news articles that were shared, blog posts
or the Beat the Odds campaign itself. Research shows that mental health is not
a topic that individuals are eager to talk or share personal stories about, and this
campaign allowed for conversation while still avoiding any sensitivities of citizens
that may be silently suffering. While it is unfortunate that these individuals
should continue to suffer, the Beat the Odds campaign offered a chance to make
a positive impact for clients of MHAs various programs.

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Theme and Messages

The designing of this campaign was approached from a very rational point of
view, and much of our messaging was presented from a statistical standpoint.
This point of view is what brought forth the idea to use the name of the Beat
the Odds event as the title of the entire campaign. The more educated people
become on the subject, the more people will understand the severity of the issue
and how crucial it is that the community continues to support organizations
such as MHA in order to keep our city healthy and happy.
Another aspect of the campaign that was created from a rational point of view
was the Bet You Didnt Know campaign that we created for MHAs social media channels. This series was designed to present facts about mental health and
MHAs role in the community that were also attached to faces of clients and
members of MHAs staff and family. We understand that facts are substantial,
but to attach them to smiling faces that are directly involved in enhancing the
mental health of the community gives these facts a more humanistic quality.
Mental health is a touchy subject that individuals are often quick to dismiss due
to negative associations that people often have, so giving faces to these facts allows for a greater opportunity to resonate in the minds of the public.

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Timeline
January 26 31

February 3

Conducted secondary research of The Mental Health

Association for Greater Baton Rouge (MHA) and compiled
questions in preparation for initial client meeting.

Held client meeting with Jenny Ridge, Director of

Communications and Development for MHA to discuss the
initial goals and objectives of the organization.

February 6

Meeting at Highland Coffees to begin preparation for

Mental Health Awareness week on campus.

Toured the Alliance House Drop-in center and met with
staff workers and administrators.
February 12

Met with Ridge to discuss Beat The Odds silent auction and
changes to raffle ticket items.

February 13

Spoke with Sarah Schram at The LSU Foundation about

strategies for fundraising and potential donors in the Baton
Rouge area.

February 23

Sent pitch letters to Baton Rouge businesses and local news

stations

February 25

Meeting at MHA with Ridge and Melissa Silva, Executive

Director for MHA, to discuss our involvement with the
Coroners event and solidify arrangements for the Year of
Dining raffle.

March 1


Created MHAs Instagram and began publishing content,



beginning with the #BetYouDidntKnow social media
campaign

March 5


Meeting with Ridge and Meg May, an MHA volunteer, to

discuss the Alliance house video shoot and gathering silent
auction items.
March 9

Video and photo shoot at the Alliance House Drop-in

Center for promotional content.

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Timeline
March 12
Attended Knights of Columbus Baton Rouge chapter

meeting to spread awareness of MHAs impact and services
within the community.
March 16
April 1

Began utilization of MHAs Twitter account.

Attended and assisted with MHAs event The Role of the

Coroner in Louisiana: The Medicine Behind the Badge.

April 13


Launched Faces of MHA social media campaign on
Instagram.
April 15

Held luncheon with MHA and local Baptist pastors at

the Baptist Collegiate ministry in order to spread MHAs
message to the community, gain support, and fill a possible
faith-based position on MHAs board.

April 17

Meeting at MHA with Jenny to begin final preparations for

Beat The Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction.

April 20 24

Mental Health Awareness week on LSUs campus which

included a promotion table in Free Speech Alley offering
games and prizes to raise awareness about mental health
and a campus-wide toiletries drive.

April 29

April 30

Beat The Odds set-up at the Rural Life Museum.

Beat The Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction at 7 p. m.

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Budget

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Summary of Special Event Activities

Throughout the semester we had the opportunity to execute awareness and promotional
events within the LSU student body and Baton Rouge community. We were able to assist
MHA with advocacy events that educated publics about the importance of mental health
treatment in Baton Rouge and what MHA does to improve it. Through extensive social
media promotion and direct outreach to several independent organizations, one of our
more pressing objectives was to raise enough awareness to increase attendees at MHAs
Beat the Odds: Casino Night and Silent Auction event on April 30. Each event or effort is
transcribed with details and pictures below.

Events for Awareness:

Pastoral Luncheon
LEFT: Illustrious Communications and MHA at The Baptist
Collegiate Ministry hosting a
luncheon on April 15 for the
Baptist pastoral community in
order to raise awareness and gain
support for the Mental Health
Association.

Knights of Columbus Meeting

RIGHT: Illustrious Communications representative, Adrian
Wintz, and MHAs Director of
Communications and Development, Jenny Ridge, at the Knights
of Columbus Meeting on March
12 to spread awareness of MHAs
impact and services within the
community.

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Summary of Special Event Activities

Educational Events:

Coroners event
LEFT: Attendees at The
Medicine Behind the Badge: The
Role of the Coroner in Louisiana
event held at the Louisiana
Resource Center for Educators on
April 1 to educate social workers
and law enforcement officers on
the coroners role with handling
mental illness in Louisiana.

BELOW LEFT: Illustrious team members checking in attendees to the Coroners event with Jenny Ridge.
BELOW RIGHT: Melissa Silva with Louisiana Coroner, William Clark.

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Mental Health Awareness Week

From April 20-24, Illustrious Communications held a Mental Health Awareness week
on LSUs campus. Pictured below are Illustrious members and other LSU students,
a targeted public, in Free Speech Alley. Students were invited to play games and
answer trivia questions about mental health, as well as pose for photos to engage with
#BeatTheOdds social media campaign.

LEFT: As part of Mental

Health Awareness Week,
Illustrious Communications
prepared boxes to hold items
for the toiletries drive. Boxes
were placed in the 10 sorority
houses, as well as the Manship
School asking for toiletry
donations for the MHAs
Residential Center.

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Social Media Presence

PICTURED ABOVE & BELOW: Facebook posts created by Illustrious

Communications asking for followers on MHAs newly created Instagram and
promoting the Argentina Dove Hunt silent auction item.

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Social Media Presence

Illustrious Communications created an
Instagram for MHA and began publishing
content starting with the #BeatTheOdds
and the Faces of MHA campaigns.

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Social Media Presence

MHAs Twitter features posts promoting
The Mental Health Awareness Week,
toiletries drive, and The Beat The Odds
Casino Night and Silent Auction.

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Evaluation
Goal 1: Objective 1: To educate at least 200 members of the Baton Rouge community with
an interest in mental health of MHAs important role in the community in order to acquire
donations, sponsorships and increase event attendance
Outcome:
We successfully executed the tactics under this objective by sending pitch letters to the
LSU Psychology Department, Blue Cross Blue Shield, LSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry
(BCM), Knights of Columbus and the LSU Foundation. We requested meetings to discuss
fundraising approaches and received responses from the BCM, Knights of Columbus
and the LSU Foundation. We were able to meet with all three of these organizations. We
held a pastoral luncheon with three influential pastors in the Baton Rouge area, one of
which is the Associational Compassion Missionary of the Baptist Association of Greater
Baton Rouge which is comprised of 96 churches. Illustrious Communications gave an
informational presentation and MHA board member, Jenny Ridge answered questions.
Illustrious was also granted a meeting with the LSU foundation where Senior Director
of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Sarah Schram, shared valuable insight on
fundraising in Baton Rouge.
We also attended a meeting of the Knights of Columbus where Ridge informed the group
on MHA and promoted the Beat The Odds event.
To complete our final tactic, Illustrious updated five community calendars including DIG,
WBRZ, The Advocate, Eventful and WAFB with the Beat the Odds and The Medicine
Behind The Badge events.

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Evaluation
Goal 1: Objective 2: To reach out to at least 300 LSU students/social media users and
encourage mental health awareness.
Outcome:
Illustrious set up a table in LSUs Free Speech Alley with an official MHA tablecloth, a
hand-crafted Plinko game that we created to entice passersby by asking them to answer a
mental health related statistic question to win a piece of candy, and 250 small fliers with
all of MHAs social media handles that were handed out encouraging people to follow
them. We successfully handed out all 250 fliers and with the followers gained throughout
the semester - 100+ on Facebook, 70+ on Instagram and 40+ on Twitter - we achieved our
cumulative goal of reaching out to 300 LSU students and related social media users.

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Evaluation
Goal 1: Objective 3: To secure 250 attendees for the event, The Medicine Behind the
Badge, the Role of the Coroner in Louisiana on April 1, 2015.
Outcome:
We helped MHA host a free educational seminar called, The Medicine Behind The
Badge, The Role of the Coroner in Louisiana which educated people on the coroners
role in dealing with the mentally ill. The event sold out days in advance and had 250 law
enforcement officials and social workers in attendance. Illustrious sent press releases
regarding the event to WAFB, WBRZ, DIG Magazine, The Advocate, 225 and KLSU. Both
WAFB and WBRZ attended and covered the event.

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Evaluation
Goal 2: Objective 1: Obtain silent auction items
and donations with a minimum total value of
$1,000 to successfully execute MHAs Beat the
Odds fundraising event on April 30, 2015.
Outcome:
We collaborated with Ridge and Silva to come up
with creative ideas for silent auction items and a
raffle theme. The theme we decided on was called
A Year of Dining, in which tickets were sold
for $10 each and included 12 donated gift cards
ranging from $50 - $100 to a variety of restaurants
around Baton Rouge as well as 12 bottles of wine.
After securing these gift cards we helped in the
designing of the actual ticket and assisted in the
sales. We also made requests to many businesses,
both regional and local, and artists for donated
merchandise to be used in the silent auction.

Goal 2: Objective 2: To increase ticket sales of Beat the Odds Casino Night and Silent
Auction from 175 to 250 tickets.
Outcome:
Although we will not know final ticket sales until the event on April 30, 2015, we
are well on our way to achieving this objective. Throughout the campaign we used
#BeatTheOdds to connect all of our posts into a unified, searchable topic and start an
online conversation. We created the Bet You Didnt Know Facebook campaign that
compiled photographs of various people holding posters with mental health statistics
and the hashtag. We also designed MHAs Facebook cover photo. Finally, we created a
MHA Instagram account that promoted Beat The Odds throughout the semester.

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Stewardship
In order to follow up on this campaign, MHA should express gratitude to their
benefactors by having their clients write thank you letters to the donors and
sponsors of the Beat The Odds Casino Night and Silent Auction. This would give
MHA clients the opportunity to express what the organization means to them,
and it would connect the benefactors directly to the people who benefit from their
contributions.Thank you letters should also be sent to all the organizations that
participated in the toiletry drive for the same reason.
Maintaining connections and relationships with these sponsors is also in MHAs
best interest. In order to keep an open line of communication, we suggest MHA
reach out to their benefactors more than once a year by establishing some type of
newsletter so that their audiences feel tethered to their cause. For example, a semiannual newsletter could be used depict the organizations latest achievements, as
well as keeping benefactors in the goings on. Another way to approach maintaining
these relationships is to send out holiday greeting cards, which can also be created
by the clients.
We also recommend that MHA continue to utilize its Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram accounts to maintain its direct online relationship with the public.
Social media is revolutionizing how organizations communicate with their publics,
so MHA needs to stay current with the times. For example, MHA can follow up
on their #FacesofMHA campaign by producing something like a #FansofMHA
campaign, employing similar concepts, or at least attempt to retain relevance in
their audiences eyes by posting about current events.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Illustrious Communications has
left MHA with several suggestions for promoting awareness throughout the
month. Each member of Illustrious Communications wrote a blog post regarding
our experience with service learning. We also took pictures with the hashtag
#BeatTheOdds that should accompany each blog post. The Faces of MHA
campaign will also not run on Facebook until May, which will coordinate its
promotion with the official month for mental health awareness. MHA needs to use
campaigns like these to produce content that is consistent, while accentuating the
goals for the respective campaign.

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Reflections
The time, dedication and care that stems from
the volunteers and full-time staff is astounding.
However, there is something different about
working for a group like MHA. There is an aura
of sincerity, not pity for the men and women that
suffer from serious mental illness. From day one I
have noticed the sense of camaraderie and respect
between the staff and patients. -Logan
[Walking into the Residential Center] There was
something seeping through the walls, dripping
from the doorway, reflecting off a laminated chores
list tacked to the wall. It was unexpected and
unmistakable; it was hope. -Kallan
These people [in the Residential Center] werent
hopeless, stuck in their old ways, they were hardworking people who are truly dedicated to getting
clean and getting their lives back on track. -Adrian
The clients of MHA will forever serve as a
reminder to me that there is always triumph to be
gained through our tribulations. It calls for society
to extend a helping hand toward one another,
because there is strength in community, and it lies
within overcoming the cards that have been dealt
against us, as individuals. -Christian

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Reflections
The fact that programs such as Mental Health Association
for Greater Baton Rouge exist is not only essential to the
wellbeing of the community, but it is also a huge relief
to know that there are people in the community that
understand how important it is that individuals suffering
from mental illness receive the proper care that they need.
-Zach

At the beginning of the semester I saw this class as just

another group project, but it has turned out to be so much
more than that.Throughout high school and college I have
worked with organizations such as St. Jude, CASA, Habitat
for Humanity, and various shelters. Mental health was never
a cause or organization I had ever given much thought
about. -Brogan

The amount of passion and work that goes into a nonprofit

organization is astounding, Ive never seen people work
so hard with getting so few tangible benefits in return,
its truly humbling. That being said, it breaks my heart to
be reminded how forsaken mental illness can be. Its not
something anybody should feel like they have to face alone,
and thats the message that has been the driving force of our
campaign. -Rachel

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