Editor’s note: This article was a finalist for the America Inspired Contest, which celebrated extraordinary people making a difference across the United States. We invite you to read about these amazing people.

More than 1.7 million in L.A. County are at risk of hunger every day including 400,000 children, a statistic not seen since the Great Depression.  Unemployment hovers near 12%, well above the national average of 8.6%, and thus the need is great.  So, what could a PR Executive, a Happy Hour reporter and a Pub Crawl possibly do to help?  Well, thankfully a lot.

Kim Koury, a PR Executive hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, attended Ohio University majoring in Organizational Communications.  She eventually landed in Santa Monica where she opened her own boutique firm, Spin Public Relations, working with artists, bands, non-profits, restaurants, and bars. 

Three years ago Kim was discussing with a friend how in Santa Monica you could spend an entire evening on foot going from one amazing venue to the next.  As it was nearing the Holidays it seemed to Kim there had to be a way to tie together the spirit of the season with helping those less fortunate. Kim decided to meld these ideas with what she knew could be a huge fundraiser for charity - throwing a Pub Crawl for the City of Santa Monica using one group’s consumption to provide for another’s need. 

Kim got in touch with Genevieve Riutort, Director of Development for the Westside Food Bank.  In light of the ongoing recession, the situation at the WFB was dire.  The WFB supplies 70 agencies and they were running out of resources when Kim called them in late Fall 2009.  The urgency of their need was evident to Kim and she elected the Westside Food Bank as the beneficiary of her efforts.  Plans for the first Annual Santa Monica Pub Crawl were soon underway.

Ms. Riutort says the following about the WFB's guardian angel: “Kim’s passion and enthusiasm has been the key to this event.  Pulling this off yearly involves support from so many businesses, the City, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the media.  These are Kim’s strengths.  She went out and talked personally to each business owner to get the Pub Crawl off the ground.  Kim got more media exposure for the WFB in six weeks than we had had in the past two years!  She reached the demographic of 20-30 year old leaders, philanthropists and business people which we so sorely need for our future survival.  It is necessary to have established donors, but in order to continue we have to replenish our base of support.  Kim risked her own money to get this off the ground.  Kim appeals to everyone’s heart and they just love her”.  

When asked why she chose the Westside Food Bank Kim responded, “Basic needs simply have to be met first.  In this case, food.  I chose the Westside Food Bank because it is local, it’s a very hands-on, grass-roots organization without too many layers of administration, and because they can turn $1 into four meals.  Talk about bang for the buck!  They serve all manner of less fortunate individuals including seniors, the mentally ill, homeless, veterans, and women and children who have experienced domestic violence.  I wanted to see this organization not just survive but thrive.  I just had to get it done.”  

It took this PR wunderkind a mere six hair-raising weeks to get the first Santa Monica Pub Crawl off the ground.  She managed to get her team in place and most importantly, recruit those revelers!  Said Kim, “That's what the art of PR is all about: taking an impossible schedule with a ludicrously tiny budget and securing the biggest result possible - in this case, the most food, cash and exposure for the Westside Food Bank as we could muster”.

Another salient partner that Kim got on board was Laurel Rosen, President and CEO of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.  Laurel told me, “Kim is clever and creative, a real innovator.  Not only does the Pub Crawl help a non-profit in need, it puts the focus on the restaurants, bars and hotels in Santa Monica.  It helps our Buy Local Campaign.  For some of our participants this is now their biggest sales night of the year.  Kim’s efforts have truly impacted our community.  It takes a rare individual to do what Kim has done”.  

The 2010 Santa Monica Pub Crawl had close to 3,000 people attending in the pouring rain!  A potential disappointment turned into a Holiday “Miracle on 3rd and 4th Street” and there was actually too much food collected that night.  This prompted the WFB to gratefully ask for funds this year in lieu of actual cans.  This year Kim added the support of the Big Blue Bus and had a Turkey Soup fundraiser at Wokcano in November. 

Helping others brings out tremendous feelings of empathy in all of us. Kim puts it this way, “Let’s be honest - people are going to celebrate and consume during the Holidays.  I just found a way to tap into that energy, cheer and spending to put food into the WFB coffers.  I hope to see the SANTA Monica Pub Crawl continue as an annual tradition in Santa Monica and grow each year.  The Pub Crawls have raised enough money and food for 26,000 meals.  My goal is to triple that each year!” 

Looking for someone to nominate for the America Inspired Award in my category was difficult as cocktails, charity, civic consciousness and contests do not exactly go hand-in-hand.  However, having found Kim, I was gifted with the realization that there is no one out there more deserving to be the benefactor of the America Inspired Award.  Kim is passion and that passion has impacted the entire Westside of Los Angeles and Santa Monica. 

I am confident you will share in my goal which is to see Kim awarded the Grand Prize and help us help those in need by giving them the gift of food, something so simple and elemental that those of us fortunate enough never to have to worry about it take it for granted.  No one should ever have to go hungry in our country.  Choosing Kim as the recipient of this award will help to make that a reality.  The proceeds will feed the hungry all next year. My goal would be to have Food Banks become obsolete, but until that happens please vote for Kim and help her realize her dream of funding the Westside Food Bank.  Happy Holidays and God Bless.