Feed My People Food Bank
By putting faces to stark truths about hunger, a
website is able to sway an indifferent audience.
First Net Impressions
Creative director: Maria Herbert
Art director/designer: Beth Meierstein
Website developers: Beth Meierstein, Jessica Moore
Copywriters: Beth Meierstein, Emily Moore
Client: Feed My People Food Bank
Contact: www.firstnetimpressions.com
715.832.7713
Each year, First Net Impressions in Wisconsin gives
away a free website redesign to a local company with
a good cause, but limited funds. Last year’s winner
was the Feed My People Food Bank (FMP). The
main objective for the food bank is to raise more
money to feed hungry people.
“The marketing materials [for FMP] needed
to show need and compel people to give,” says Beth
Larson of First Net Impressions. “To do this, the
design had to have a serious tone, striking facts and
photos that showed the emotion of hunger. Our
community needed to understand that every day
people [all over] Wisconsin go hungry, and they’re
not just in the big cities.”
To help FMP raise more money for the food
bank, First Net Impressions feels people need to
understand and empathize with the plight of the
hungry—and know what the food bank is doing
to combat it. “The website shows visitors how far
a dollar can go. For every dollar contributed, the
food bank can turn it into $10 worth of food,” says
Larson. “Hopefully this website will bring awareness
to what a difference we could be making and what
strides we’ve already made.”
The site includes a form for distributors for the
food bank—pantries, soup kitchens, shelters—to
request food. First Net Impressions was able to code
the site so the form would work directly with the
food bank’s inventory system—because the type and
amount of food in the warehouse changes daily.
“There are 39,714 people living in the 14
counties the food bank serves that live in poverty,
and 23,828 of them are children or elderly,” says
Larson. “The food bank serves 10,000 of them a
month—not even half. We needed to show the
extent of what is needed, as well as the progress
that has been made. Each year the food bank helps
food reach more and more people who need it. Last
year the food bank distributed almost five times the
amount of food it did four years ago. The growth
is phenomenal, and we want people to be excited
to be a part of it.”
