Samford University’s Magic City student public relations competition team is selling jewelry to benefit With Purpose as part of a national campaign.
With Purpose is a nonprofit organization created to raise awareness for the lack of funding for childhood cancer research. The Magic City team includes five Samford students who are running a month-long campaign for the national Bateman competition sponsored by the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). The Magic City team is one of two from Samford participating in this year’s competition. Samford teams have been national finalists and honorable mention honorees in previous competitions.
The team’s goal is to raise awareness for With Purpose to help in the discovery of safe and effective treatment options for children with cancer. To raise awareness, the Magic City Bateman team has decided to partner with Mary Kathryn Design to create a necklace that represents With Purpose. The necklaces are $35 each with 50 percent of each sale going directly to With Purpose.
Mary Kathryn Design is a jewelry company based out of Nashville, Tennessee and owned by Mary Kathryn Martinson. Martinson’s company has gotten attention from celebrities such as Carrie Underwood and Sadie Robertson. Martinson is thrilled to help support conquering childhood cancer. “I was excited when I was approached about creating a one of a kind necklace for With Purpose...We took the logo and color scheme and helped create a necklace that represented the organization yet was also appealing to supporters of all ages,” she said.
As part of their communication plan, the team did an interview with Birmingham’s ABC television affiliate and collaborated with the Samford baseball game to promote With Purpose at a recent game.
Members of the Magic City team are Sarah Howell, a junior from McKinney Texas; Hannah Hutson, junior from Birmingham; Hannah Jones, senior from Spartanburg, South Carolina; Megan Meadow, junior from Murfreesboro, Tennessee; and Payton Walters, junior from Huntsville, Alabama.
ABOUT With Purpose: With Purpose is a childhood cancer organization that is dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of funding in research for childhood cancer. Their mission is making sure kids with cancer have access to safe and effective treatment options. With Purpose works to advocate for families affected by childhood cancer by taking action to further advance treatment for childhood cancer.
Hannah Jones is the public relations coordinator for the Magic City student team.