Date: November 15, 2012
To: Michael Mael, Washington National Opera
From: Julie Smith, GMU Student
Subject: Washington National Opera and Combating Hunger

In the Washington DC area hunger is an issue affecting thousands of residents. It has come to my attention an excellent corporate social responsibility project that could be introduced to the Washington National Opera (WNO) in an effort to help those suffering from hunger. This project will be at a minimal cost and provide life-changing benefits to those less fortunate within the community. What I am suggesting is holding a food drive to provide food to the Capital Area Food Bank to aid those struggling with hunger in the DC area. With hunger being a prominent issue in the District of Columbia, a food drive hosted by the Washington National Opera is an excellent opportunity to combat hunger and give back to the community.

Hunger in the District

Hunger is an issue that has been affecting Washington DC for many years. According to DC Hunger Solutions, one in eight District Households is struggling against hunger (DC Hunger Solutions, 2012). This struggle against hunger is only recently getting worse. The Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB), an organization dedicated to feeding those who suffer from hunger in the DC area, states that there has been a large increase in those seeking food assistance and the number has risen from 30 to 100 percent (CAFB, 2012). According to the president of the CAFB in DC, Lynn Brantly, the current higher costs of food and gasoline have led to a shortage in the amounts of food available at food banks (Gowen, 2012). Currently the CAFB desperately needs donations to fill the gap of the shortages they are experiencing. The Washington National Opera has the potential to tremendously aid the CAFB in the fight to combat hunger by organizing a food drive and encouraging food donations.

How the Washington National Opera Can Help

The Washington National Opera (WNO) has such a tremendous influence on the DC area it holds a great opportunity to help those who are in need. The food drive will raise awareness of hunger in DC and is a chance for the WNO to give back to the community. It is an excellent opportunity to rally opera goers and their families together to support the cause of feeding the hungry.

Theaters similar to the WNO have seen great success from promoting food drives. One of these theaters, the Randall L. Jones Theatre in Salt Lake City, holds an annual food drive to benefit a local food bank (BWW News Desk, 2012). According to the theater’s site, they have been able to donate over ten thousand pounds of food in their nine years of running the food drive by encouraging individuals to bring nonperishable food items on performance days

(BWW News Desk, 2012). Achieving even a fraction of this success with the WNO’s food drive would be incredibly beneficial to the CAFB.

Project Description

This food collection would entail urging opera goers to bring a nonperishable food item with them to the show they are attending. In order to spread the word to opera goers, the food drive can be advertised in the monthly e-newsletter that is sent out as well as through social media on the opera’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. At the opera entrance would be a collection site where the food can be dropped off. The collection can