FEEDING FUTURE LEADERS OF AMERICA

BGB Proposal: Feeding Future Leaders of America

Jasmine Kamga, Jocelyn Torres, Nishad Waghmare, Sonia Saldana
BCOM 3311.002, Business Communication
Professor Elizabeth Bruce
2016, April 29

Feeding Leaders of the Future

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Just a few hours south of Dallas- Fort Worth, in the small town of Barlett TX, a family is
struggling to make ends meet. Victoria, her husband Steven, and their three year old son Arie
enjoyed a modest living in Lubbock until they were forced to move in order to take care of
Victorias aunt and mother whose health is starting to decline due to old age. While Steven was
fortunate enough to have a well-paying occupation in Lubbock, he is having a hard time finding
ample employment at their new home. After spending most of their money moving to Barlett,
they were desperately in need of food and money. At one point they had only 5 dollars to
spend to feed the whole family.
All across Texas and America, families just like Victorias are coping with the
effects of hunger. Beneath the wealth and glamour of our own DFW metroplex lies an
underbelly of unemployment and poverty. A huge segment of our community struggles with
obtaining the meals and nutrition most of us take for granted. How does Victoria go about
making the decision between feeding her son and paying the gas bill? How would she feel when
she sees the look on her mothers face when she comes with only five dollars of food for a
dinner for five? Fortunately, Victoria and Steven were able receive assistance from the local
food pantry which supplemented their meals enough for them to make it through a few months
of poverty until Steven found adequate employment. Without help, however, they would have
faced serious challenges. Especially difficult would be providing Arie with the critical nutrition
he needs while growing up. Children are hit especially hard by hunger; those that grow up
hungry will encounter a host of physiological and psychological issues. We cannot no longer sit
back and turn a blind eye when thousands of children in our own North Texas community are
going hungry.
Food Insecurity in the US

According to a report release by the United States Department of Agriculture, food

security means access to enough food by all people at all times, for an active and healthy life
(USDA, 2015). However, being hungry and unable to eat any food, its an uncontrollable
situation that has happened and still happening despite the years and the assets of a country.
Therefore, US is not an exemption and still having food insecurity. Reports from USDA reveals
that 14% of American households had not enough food sometimes during the day in 2014
(Coleman-Jensen, Rabbitt, Gregory, Singh, 2015). Also, in comparison to 2013 reports, the rate
of food insecurity hasnt change significantly. However, looking over the past four years food
insecurity has decreased .9% since 2011(Coleman-Jensen, Rabbitt, Gregory, Singh, 2015).

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Food Insecurity in Texas and Dallas

Americans also struggle for taking food into their mouths. Sometimes hunger is hidden
closer to our eyes than we may realize. Hunger itself cant be measured according to USDA, but
we can measure the number of people that goes to bed without feeding themselves for the
day. According to the Feeding America Organization 14 states in the US showed a high
percentage of food insecurity. Within those 14 states, Texas has a 17.2 rate of food insecurity.
This rate demonstrates that Texas is below the US average during the years of 2012-2014. In
terms of people, one in five Texas households went hungry at some point in 2014 (Feeding
America).
A report done by the Food Research and Action Center reveals that Dallas, Fort Worth,
and Arlington were ranked with an 18.8% of food hardship in 2013-2014 in the Metropolitan
Statistical Area (p.9). As we already mentioned factors for hunger vary, but the most commons
are poverty due to low incomes. 300,000 children were classified under the poverty level, and
making them an easy target to get under the clutches of hunger (Greater Dallas Justice Revival).
Although, there are many organizations fighting against hunger, now a days still not enough.
We still having large rates in our country of food insecure. People still going to bed without
enough food in their stomach, and waking up the next morning in their same devastating
reality. Therefore, we are here. We want to decrease the rates of food insecurity in our Dallas
Community, and we know we cant do it over the night instead will do it one step at a time.
Background La Madeleine and NTFB
La Madeleine
La Madeleine is a country French cafe with more than 70 nationwide location and has his
headquarter here in the Dallas area. La Madeleine throughout its day serves breakfast, lunch
and dinner, but they are also well known for their delicious bakeries. La Madeleine first opened
its door in February 1983 on Mockingbird Lane next to Southern Methodist University. It was

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created by a French native guy named Patrick Leon Esquerre who grew up in a small town in
France and post WWII.
After WWII, it was not easy to get a real meal since almost everything was destroyed by the
war. Meals revolved around hand prepared food and having friends and families painless
conversation. Patrick stop enjoying being a kid at that point and stop enjoying his hometown.
However, Patrick found an inspiration of cooking by his mother and had a dream to fulfil. His
most wanted dream was to open a cafe that will represent France his home. He decided to
bring his vision to open a classic French country cafe in the U.S.
In May 2015, La Madeleine made a commitment to partner with a nonprofit organization called
the Children's Hunger Fund to fight childhood hunger in the Dallas area. This organization was
created in 1991 by Dave Phillips who himself encounters hunger from his previous home
Honduras. Since then, Dave decided to make a difference in children's life by making it sure that
no children can ever feel that unpleasant sensation of emptiness.
La Madeleine and the Children's hunger fund have for goal to provide over 22 million meals to
homes of those in needs. They raised money by receiving donation from customers and every
$1 that is donated help to provide up to 3 meals to one child daily. With the help of volunteers
and their team, CFH has been faster at delivering and distribution of foods which they do not
only do around Dallas but also nationwide. (Lewis, 2015)
NTFB
The North Texas Food Bank is a nonprofit relief organization that was founded in 1982 and is
located here in Dallas. Their main goal is to help the Dallas community by reaching to
organization that distribute donation, purchases and homemade food through networking with
more than 200 agencies. Children nutritional need is their priorities and they strive to make
Dallas free of hunger. They are top ranked for being a non profit and they have the largest
North Texas charity. La Madeleine decided to reach to the NTFB because they have been
fighting against child hunger in the Dallas area for years.
In 2015, they fought to provide access to nearly 63 million meals to hungry children daily.
According to NTFB, they provide access to over 170,000 meals daily to hungry children in Dallas.
More importantly, their focus is not only children but also any family or seniors that need help.
Even though the NTFB provides this much food to the Dallas community, the need for foods is
still not enough ( NTFB, 2015).
La madeleine is helping the NTFB by providing them with the extra resources they have since
they are known for being a cafe. Together, they have for goal to end child hunger in Dallas by
the end of 2025 and have access to more than 92 million nutrition meals. To fight hunger or
food insecurity, the NTFB is launching a 10 year plan that will get them access to more than
enough foods for the community. With the 10 plan nutrition in place, the NTFB and La
Madeleine hope to reduce at least 50 percent of the population food insecurity. They have also
put in place child programs to make the process more effective. They work with schools and
social services programs to kids in need throughout the year but mainly summer months
because that's when children faces the most hunger.

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Fundraising Event
Our goal is to raise money and donate it to the North Texas Foodbank (NTFB) in order to
provide food for those in need in our Dallas community. We know the NTFB has being helping
feeding people; therefore, we want to do our part within our company, and raise money to
decrease the rates of food insecurity in our area. Statistics release from the CEO of the NTFB
shows that $1 provides 3 meals (Daniels, 2012). Therefore, well be hosting fundraising events
in our Dallas restaurants and raise as much dollars as we can.
La Madeleine counts with 3 headquarters restaurants in the Dallas area in which each of
them well host a family environment event every three months. The event will take place in
the restaurant's parking lot in which will have bounce houses, clowns, games, and live music
for all the family. Our company usually charges for each consumed plate, but for this event we
want to persuade people to come eat as much food as they can for flat rate prices, $25 for
adults and $10 for children. Well served our delicious dishes such as cream of mushrooms,
pasta salads, chicken sandwiches, Caesar salads, and much more. Drinks and desserts will also
be included with the entrance ticket.
Marketing
The method that La Madeleine is going to market the fundraising is through handing out flyers
on churches, schools, parks. The places were chosen because of the fundraising being family
oriented this will help children have fun on a safe place, while the family oriented this will help
children have fun on a safe place, while the family enjoy their dinner and music. A different
marketing system consists of posting it on social media, for example; Facebook, Twitter,
Snapchat, etc. People tend to connect already on social media so this will be easy to reach out
to them. The last way that the fundraising will be marketing is through the radio station 106.9
and 94.5. In today's world people are always on the go and while at it people are listening to
the radio station.
Budget
The venue is plan to be at the one of the location on La Madeleine where is able to fit
approximately 2,000 people which is inside and outside. It is not going to cost us anything for
the venue since it is in La Madeleine. The sponsors chef that are hired to cook the special
dinner will be paid $3,500 for the total of 5 sponsor chefs. The site staff will help serve, and also
cater the food to the table. The cost of the site staff is $3,000. Entertainment consists of a DJ, a
clown, bounce house, games for the kids and the cost $25,000. The food and refreshments
comes to be $3,500 and it includes the main dish, a drink, and dessert. The cost of the
marketing is $10,000 for airing on the radio, printing and handing out fliers, and posting on the
internet. The total amount of our expenses is $46,000 and we are asking DRC to help contribute
with half of the expenses.
Funds Raised
The fundraising dinner is expected to have 2,000 adults and 1,000 children participating that
day, so we are looking at an estimation of $60,000 of profit. This amount will help feed 60,000

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children with food insecurity that are living here in the Dallas area. This would help them
provide with breakfast, lunch and dinner without having them worry for the day.
Impact of Charity Event on Dallas Community
We are partnering with the North Texas Food Bank, who will use our raised funds to
distribute food across the DFW area. For every dollar raised by us, the North Texas Food Bank
will provide 3 meals. Based on the estimate of 6000 attendees, our event will generate over
300,000 meals for hungry children in need. That is one hunger free day for over 100,000 of our
future teachers, engineers, firefighters, businessmen, doctors, and future leaders.

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7
Works Cited

Feeding America. (n.d). Real stories of hunger; Your story: Victoria and Steven. Retrieved from:
http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-stories/your-stories/
North Texas Food Bank. (n.d). Frequently asked questions about donating. Retrieved from:
http://web.ntfb.org/page.aspx?pid=339
Coleman-Jensen Alisha, Rabbitt P. Matthew, Gregory Christian, Singh Anita. (2015, September).
Household food security in the United States in 2014. United States Department of
Agriculture. Retrieved from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1896841/err194.pdf
Feeding America. (n.d). Hunger and poverty facts and statistics. Retrieved from:
http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/hunger-and-pove
rty/hunger-and-poverty-fact-sheet.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAr8W2BRD2qbCOv8_H7qEBEiQA
1ErTBg0E51fXefwMWM6oOqcC6A7MdEJmWC229GuCHgwC4c0aAuc78P8HAQ
FRAC. (2015, April). How hungry is America? Retrieved from:
http://frac.org/pdf/food_hardship_2014.pdf
Greater Dallas Justice Revival. (n.d). Hunger Facts. Retrieved from:
http://www.dallasjusticerevival.org/hunger-facts.html
Lewis, J. (2015, May 08). La Madeleine Pledges to Raise Funds for One Million Meals to Fight
Childhood Hunger with Childrens Hunger Fund. The dallas morning news. Retrieved
from
http://yourrichardson.dallasnews.com/2015/05/08/la-madeleine-pledges-to-raise-funds
-for-one-million-meals-to-fight-childhood-hunger-with-childrens-hunger-fund/
NTFB. (n.d.). Feeding america. Retrieved from http://web.ntfb.org/home