Picture a present-day radiothon using social media in real-time to make an impact, encourage others to do the same, and spread the good word. That’s what social media platforms Only in Palm Beach TV and Khanna House Studios had in mind when they teamed up to assist The Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach with their diaper shortage. Calling it Pull Up with Pull-Ups, social media followers were asked to bring a donation of diapers in exchange for the opportunity to shout out their business or a loved one while live streaming from the page creator’s platform of over 41,000. The unscripted and unexpected nature of social media rang true when one arrival showed up and shocked everyone, including viewers, with their contribution.
“501cTees works with charitable organizations and foundations to really help where the needs are the most, and (we) work with them directly to see what they specifically need. Over a thousand dollars donated to The Soup Kitchen is such a feel-good for the community, and we are extremely excited to help others,” said Ryan Seick, an owner of 501cTees, who learned of the event through Facebook. The generous donation is precisely the type of impact the event hosts were hoping to attract when they created it.
Only in Palm Beach TV is a user-generated content platform in which people from all over Palm Beach County snap raw photos and videos of current events and send them to the page to post on the popular platform. The local content creation and podcast studio, Khanna House Studios, helps people create shows and social media content. Together, they understand the power of social media and how it can mobilize positive change.
“I hope we make giving back and doing community service look cool to our followers, so they do the same, and I hope we inspire others to use their social media to do some good. We love The Soup Kitchen’s work, so it’s exciting watching the number of viewers climb. People that didn’t know about The Soup Kitchen before do now, and they can support them or maybe get services. Either way, something positive comes of this,” said studio owner Akai Jackson.
Bringing new faces and attention to The Soup Kitchen might become much-needed support.
The Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach provides more than 800 free meals daily, but their mission of feeding the heart, mind, and body has them providing much more than meals. They also provide mothers with diapers, and supplying larger-sized diapers has been especially challenging due to increased costs. “We provide diapers to about 130 moms every other week, or about 14,000 diapers every month. And unfortunately, because we don’t have enough of the larger sizes, we have had to turn away about 30 moms every other week,” said The Soup Kitchen CEO Marlene Mejia.
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Pull up with Pull-Ups collected 52 packages of diapers, five baby packages of baby wipes, a monetary donation, and thousands (and counting) of viewers. To learn more about The Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach, visit www.thesoupkitchen.org, or diapers can be sent directly to the organization via the Amazon link located on their website.