Press release 08-10-2024

October 8, 2024

ORPHANS FEEDING FOUNDATION WINS PRESTIGIOUS PR DAILY NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS AWARD

Editor’s note, added 6 September 2024: The Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (the Ombudsman of Ukraine) referenced in this release was formally ended by the Ombudsman’s office, by letter dated 16 July 2024, after Emile Foundation (then Orphans Feeding Foundation) had repeatedly requested an accounting of how its donated funds were used and received no response. Separately, Emile Foundation’s involvement in the “Bring Kids Back UA” program coordinated by Ukraine’s Presidential Office ended in March 2024; no formal notice was exchanged by either side. Emile Foundation has operated independently since Spring 2024 and has had no relationship with the Presidential Office of Ukraine, “Bring Kids Back UA,” or the Ombudsman of Ukraine since.

Holland-based Orphans Feeding Foundation has been named a winner in PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards in the Awareness Campaign – Video category.

PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards

PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards celebrates the communications efforts that told powerful stories. They engaged and informed stakeholders, helped reach new audiences, and led to success for nonprofit organizations, initiatives, and causes. Finalists in this year’s program were honored at a special industry event on Friday, September 27 at the Yale Club in New York City. At this event, category winners were also revealed. Learn about the event and winning work here.

Orphans Feeding Foundation was chosen from a wide pool of entries. They received recognition as a winner in PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards in the Awareness Campaign – Video category for its Stolen Voices campaign.

The Stolen Voices awareness campaign

In May 2023, after 15 months of delivering medicine, food, and clothes all along the frontlines, OFF was asked by the presidential office of Ukraine to help coordinate the advocacy part of the Bring Kids Back UA program: the Stolen Voices.

OFF worked with renowned Dutch director Bram van Splunteren and co-producer NOTV in September 2023 to create a kick-off video. This was for the Stolen Voices campaign. The 70-second piece features images of 19,546 teddy bears placed in the stands of the football stadium of The Hague, Netherlands. This was done by 300 children wearing OFF T-shirts and caps. The stuffed animals symbolize each known displaced Ukrainian child moved to Russia, Belarus, and Occupied Territories.

The young footballers of The Hague were then placed on the pitch. A message could be seen from the sky, reading “Bring Kids Back.”

The production team worked with Fatboy Slim, the UEFA, Virgin Media and Universal. Their goal was to deliver a strong soundtrack and equally powerful images of stadiums in Ukraine and abroad.

The video, seen more than 200,000 times online, is a reminder. It highlights that all the Ukrainian children should be reunited with their families.

Quotes

“Congratulations to the Orphans Feeding Foundation for being recognized as a winner in PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards!” said Brendan Gannon, Senior Marketing Manager for PR Daily’s Award programs. “Your outstanding work in nonprofit communications is a testament to your dedication and creativity. We are proud to honor your incredible contributions to the sector.”

“This award is a reminder that all those children still need to be returned. This is our everyday work.” said OFF’s CEO Mariam Lambert during her award speech. This recognition is to remind everyone not to forget those children who have been taken away from their mothers”

Orphans Feeding Foundation has been recognized for its accomplishment in a special write-up on PR Daily’s internationally read news website.

Video credits

Script, direction, editing: Bram van Splunteren
Concept: Mariam Lambert
Producers: Robert Koumans (NOTV) and Samuel Lambert
Sound: Joost van Heerden
DOP NL: Thomas Leermakers
DOP UA: Lorenzo Ambrosino
Drone cam: Rob Tiebie

About Orphans Feeding Foundation

Orphans Feeding Foundation (OFF) has been supporting children and vulnerable populations around the world since 2011. For the past 3 years, its focus has been on Ukraine and its children in particular. Besides regular humanitarian aid deliveries in villages all along the frontline, OFF is actively working on tracing and returning the deported children of Ukraine. They are also advocating for a global awareness on the topic on the international scene.

About Ragan Communications and PR Daily

Ragan Communications has been delivering trusted news, training, and intelligence for more than 50 years to internal and external communicators and business executives. They achieve this via its conferences, webinars, training, awards, subscriptions, and its membership divisions. Its daily news sites—PRDaily.com and Ragan.com—are read by more than 600,000 internal and external communicators monthly.

Contact

General enquiries: +31 643 060702

For an interview with Mariam Lambert (CEO): +31 6 38 07 30 59

For more information on past press articles:
https://emilefoundation.org/media/

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AWARD WINNING VIDEO:

VIDEO OF THE AWARD SPEECH BY MARIAM LAMBERT:

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