The House of Mercy is a grassroots homeless shelter and advocacy center. Our challenge was twofold: to raise awareness about the extreme poverty in our city and also to help drive donations for the House of Mercy Christmas drive. Rochester, New York suffers from the highest rate of extreme poverty in the U.S. and yet the majority of those who live outside the city center are affluent and therefore don’t feel the effects.

Instead of highlighting the needs of the poor, we decided to get people’s attention by turning the focus on the excess of holiday gift-giving. The campaign utilized paid and organic social media and posters.

It was the first time in the shelter’s history that all of the families in need were able to be served, and no one was turned away because of lack of donations.