FFTP Launches Campaign with Elizabeth Pérez to Grow Hispanic Audience
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 7, 2023) Food For The Poor (FFTP) is launching ads for a new Spanish language TV campaign as the charity begins an initiative to better engage Hispanic audiences to help children living in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The campaign features Emmy Award-winning sports journalist and TV presenter Elizabeth Pérez, who recently traveled with FFTP to Guatemala.
The spots will air throughout June on Spanish language TV networks, including Estrella, CNN en Español, History en Español, De Pelicula Clasico, Telexitos, Uni Mas, Galavision, Telemundo, Universo and Univision.
“It was so touching and emotional to meet all these children and families, sometimes forgotten, sadly living in extreme poverty,” Pérez said. “Thanks to the help of great and transparent foundations like Food For The Poor, they have a chance to get a helping hand to survive and thrive. They have hope.”
Pérez is an immigrant herself. She was born in Cuba and moved to Venezuela later during her childhood.
“I know what it is to be without anything, lacking the most basic needs…living in a difficult situation and in a difficult time,” she said.
Pérez recalled that her parents didn’t have much, especially when they arrived with her in Venezuela as immigrants in 1980. With no relatives in the South American country they initially only had the support of a foundation in Caracas that helped at the time former political prisoners from Cuba.
Her father was one that spent several years in a Cuban prison for being against communism and defending democratic ideals. In the capital, they got shelter for a week, food, and used clothes. It was an incommensurable help that made a difference to start a new life in a new country.
“After you receive that kind of help and you move on in life, you never forget how important it is to have a helping hand and you want to pay it forward. Helping people to have a chance in life, getting a better future for them and their families with education and hard work is what sometimes is needed to eventually break the cycle of poverty,” Pérez said.
FFTP EVP/Chief Marketing Officer Vivian Borja said Pérez has followed from a distance the work of FFTP for years and was excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the charity on this new initiative to help children, with a message crafted for Hispanic audiences.
“Elizabeth Pérez is a well-known journalist in the Hispanic community who can help us spread our message and mission,” Borja said. “She has a giant heart. She’s doing this for us pro bono. And she really understands the story of overcoming adversity.”
The campaign will provide children living in poverty with food, education and health care throughout the year in addition to offering opportunities to sponsor a child.
A common theme in the campaign is a blue thread, a symbol of unity that turns into a cross that is the cornerstone of FFTP’s logo, connecting the hearts of donors with children in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Watch one of the ads here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrt7smjPQbM&t=2s
During her trip to Guatemala with the charity, Pérez had instant rapport with everyone she met. She was particularly moved by a young mother.
“She lives in an empty space with the bed and she’s about to give birth to her first son and to know that she doesn’t have a cradle, she doesn’t even have clothes for that baby: it’s heartbreaking,” Pérez said. “I think deep inside maybe she’s happy because it’s always a blessing to have a child but in these conditions, it’s very sad. She needs urgent help.”
Borja said Hispanics are one of the fastest growing consumer segments whose population has increased by 50 percent since 2000.
“Hispanics represent nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population and are a critical growth driver for the U.S. economy,” Borja said. “We are excited for the opportunity to reach out and connect with this audience in a fresh way. Telling the stories of children will be key with this new campaign and Elizabeth Pérez is going to do so in a way that our Hispanic audience will really understand and relate to.”
Here’s how donors can help children in Latin America and the Caribbean: https://foodforthepoor.org/ninos/
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Communications
954-471-0928
[email protected]