Written by: Divya Palasamudram
A total of 6 drives have been held by Sarayu Buchireddygari, Anvita Eranti, Shruthi Kethamakka, Tanvi Kadam, Roshni Daruvuri, Esha Telang, Krisha Patel, Sowndarya Chivukula, and Jake Juliano to collect items for Carolina For The Kids. Carolina For The Kids (CFTK) is a student-led nonprofit at UNC Chapel Hill. As stated by their website, the CFTK mission is to, “provide major emotional, medical, and financial support for the patients and families served by UNC Children's Hospital.” Furthermore, the nonprofit typically assists families with expenses that insurance does not cover, such as gas costs, meals, etc. A grand total of 141 items have been collected through all drives! All items collected, which ranged from sanitation items to new toys, will be used by CFTK to assist UNC Children’s hospital and its patients.
Shruthi, Anvita, and Sarayu collected the most items through their drive at 43 items, worth a total of $79.24! Esha and Krisha, who collected 30 items, collected the items worth a total of $158.10! That's more than anyone else dollar amount. Both groups were awarded prizes from CFTK! How were these impressive drives promoted? Let’s take a look.
Promotion
Shruthi, Anvita, and Sarayu promoted their drives by spreading 100 flyers throughout their neighborhood. These flyers were placed in public places in the neighborhood (such as the community mailboxes), they were placed on people’s doorsteps, and were handed out to people as they were walking around the neighborhood. It was found that handing out flyers to people directly was most effective as it creates a more personal connection. This method prompted the most amount of donations.
Esha and Krisha found that promoting during Halloween fueled the amount of donations received. In addition to holiday promotion, Esha and Krisha held a virtual event in their neighborhood where they had children create cards for CFTK. This meeting allowed for many children to make wholesome cards that went to patients at UNC Children’s Hospital. As a way of promotion, digital copies of flyers were posted in neighborhood group chats among all groups that conducted this drive.
Obstacles
With every project comes its obstacles. After interviewing everyone who has conducted a CFTK drive, it seemed that the requirement for all items to be new was the biggest factor that hindered donations. People are more likely to donate old or used items as doing so takes less effort and is much cheaper. This can be seen as a reason why gently used clothing and book drives were able to receive more items on average than the CFTK drives.
Why choose to conduct a CFTK drive?
During the interview, Roshni mentioned that she chose to conduct this drive because the impact was local. She is aware of UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Children's Hospital, making the impact that much more meaningful.
Tips
When asked how to successfully conduct a CFTK drive, or any other drive for that matter, those who held a CFTK had a couple great tips to share. First, Sarayu recommended to formulate your pitch well. When communicating your pitch asking for donations to your neighborhood group chat or in person, make use of ethos, pathos, and logos. Roshni also mentioned to conduct one drive at a time, as this will allow for each drive to have a chance in the spotlight and no one drive will overshadow the other.
If you are inspired to host your own Carolina For The Kids drive, that is wonderful! The General Services board is always here to assist you with starting your own service project.