Feeding our neighbors in need, and leading the community to end hunger.

97 Hatfield Road, Hatfield, MA FOODBANKWMA.ORG Phone: 413-247-9738 Join our #MEFAPMatters Social Media Campaign The Emergency Food Assistance Program Here are some sample posts using photos from last year’s campaign: (MEFAP) provides funds to the four regional food banks in the commonwealth to purchase food. That food is then State Representative distributed to a statewide network of over 800 emergency met with Food Bank member food providers. agencies today to talk about why Our legislators need to know that #MEFAPMatters to their #MEFAPMatters to his constituents. Let them know what a difference MEFAP has constituents in Holyoke. Thank made in your community. By participating in our you for your support, Rep. Vega! #MEFAPMatters social media campaign, you can help us increase funding. Use social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, #MEFAPMatters in Chicopee to demonstrate the impact MEFAP has on the lives of because it allows Lorraine’s people in your community: Soup Kitchen & Pantry to • Take pictures with a #MEFAPMatters sign, and post it to distribute more healthy food to social media with the hashtag #MEFAPMatters. their clients. Pictured are staff and volunteers from Lorraine’s • In your post, describe what kinds of healthy foods you’re showing their appreciation for able to offer because of MEFAP, and how many clients are this year’s funding increase. impacted. Social Media 101

Handle: a person’s (or organization’s) Tags: links to a user’s profile. If online alias or shortened-name. someone has a Facebook or Twitter For example, The Food Bank’s Twitter account, you can “tag” him/her in your handle is @FoodBankWMA. post. The link will appear in blue, and clicking on it will bring you to that Hashtags: used on social media sites to user’s profile page. group posts related to a specific topic. The hashtag consists of the # sign followed by a On Twitter, you can tag someone by word. For example, The Food Bank often including their Twitter handle in your uses the hashtag #MEFAPMatters. post.

Clicking the hashtag #MEFAPMatters will On Facebook, the site will show you a list of all posts that mention automatically suggest a tag when #MEFAPMatters. Including that hashtag in you start typing someone’s name. Anatomy of a Tweet your social media posts makes it easier to Here’s a sample tweet from our Twitter find your MEFAP advocacy content. By tagging your legislator, their campaign. Notice that The Food Bank followers will be able to see your You can search Facebook and Twitter for “tagged” Congressman McGovern using his content. Your post will also appear hashtags to find news about a particular Twitter “handle,” and we included the when people search for content topic. If you were to search for hashtags #EndHungerNow and about your legislator. #MEFAPMatters, the results would include #WesternMA so that anyone searching for all recent posts from any user that those terms will see our post. Note: Twitter contained the hashtag. posts are limited to 280 characters.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider, and employer. Follow The Food Bank on social media Twitter Handles for #WesternMass State Legislators:

Legislator Name District Twitter Handle Sen. Adam Hinds Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden @adamghinds

Rep. 2nd Berkshire @RepPaulMark

Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier 3rd Berkshire @reptricia

Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli 4th Berkshire @repsmitty

Sen. Don Humason 2nd Hampden & Hampshire @SenDonHumason

Sen. Jim Welch Hampden @Sen_Jim_Welch

Sen. 1st Hampden & Hampshire @EricLesser

Sen. Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire & @AnneGobi Middlesex Rep. John Velis 4th Hampden @JohnVelis_

Rep. 2nd Hampden @repashe Rep. 3rd Hampden @RepNickBoldyga

Rep. Aaron Vega 5th Hampden @AaronMVega Rep. Jose Tosado 9th Hampden @JoseTosado4Rep

Rep. Carlos Gonzalez 10th Hampden @Vote4gonzalez Sen. Hampshire, Franklin & Worcester @SenStan Rep. 2nd Franklin @lee4rep Rep. Stephen Kulik 1st Franklin @repstevekulik Rep. 6th Hampden @michaeljfinn Rep. 12th Hampden @apuppolo

For more information and resources on social media basics and best practices, visit: https://www.foodbankwma.org/training-resources/ and click “Social Media 101.”