The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner is one of the largest annual community Thanksgiving dinners in the United States. Founded in 1979, the dinner was started by Raul Jimenez as a way of serving Thanksgiving meals to those in need. After his passing, the tradition was carried on by his daughter Patricia and continues to raise support for its cause. The dinner is currently hosted at the Henry B. Gonzalez convention center serving over 25,000 meals each year. We were hired by the foundation in 2011 to assist with communicating with volunteers and the media.
About Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner
Challenge
The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner is one of the largest annual community Thanksgiving dinners in the United States. Founded in 1979, the dinner was started by Raul Jimenez as a way of serving Thanksgiving meals to those in need. After his passing, the tradition was carried on by his daughter Patricia and continues to raise support for its cause. The dinner is currently hosted at the Henry B. Gonzalez convention center serving over 25,000 meals each year. We were hired by the foundation in 2011 to assist with communicating with volunteers and the media.
Our main priority each year is communicating the need for volunteers and donations through the media. We’ve engaged the media in activities that interact with their viewers such as the gobble games, which aligns all 4 major TV networks to raise money and collect food for the dinner. Each season we began publicity for marketing in early July and focus our efforts through Thanksgiving Day.
Results
Since 2011 we’ve netted over $15 million in earned media value. We’ve also helped grow their social media presence amongst the target audience of families with a median income of less than $60,000. We’ve also hosted seven consecutive gobble games with participation from all TV networks in San Antonio. In addition, we have netted over 100,000 volunteer hours from people responding to our communications strategy.
