Second National Public Service Campaign

We launched our second na onal public service campaign promoting the Sun Poem on 60 digital billboards in cities across America! They were all donated. World Unity Inc. asked companies to consider giving one space for the Sun Poem. We were overwhelmed by their generosity. We received 8 from a company in Nashville Tennessee, 9, from one in Massachusetts, and 10 from one in Atlanta Georgia, and Kansas City! This is a testament to the power of the Sun Poem.

It inspired the companies to share it with their communities. We even received space on the 3D digital billboard in front of the Massachuse s Conven on Center Authority from mid-August to mid-November. The value of this was $80,000. The total dollar value of all the billboards donated was about $250,000.

This was a year of new initatives. We collaborated with the Boston Public Schools and Franklin Park Zoo on a poetry contest. Students wrote about the value of diversity to create a strong healthy world for humans, animals, and nature. The winning poems and the Sun Poem were displayed at the zoo for the season! The winning class received a trip to the zoo!

For the first me, we received a small grant from the Mass Cultural Council to present the Sun Poem and Concert to Inspire Humanity. It was held in the Dorchester Bay Community. We worked with the Orlando Perilla, from the Dorchester Bay Community Task Force. Children performed the song to open the program, Sara gave a presenta on that included interac ve exercises and John Ciambriello and Russell Wa s each sang a set of songs. John included We All See the Stars in his repertoire.

For the first me, we had major media coverage by WGBH News. They did a feature story on the Sun Poem that aired on All Things Considered which reaches 11.9 million listeners per week. This aired in May, Asian Heritage Month.

We had a successful 25th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Gala. Sara opened her remarks with these words, “Thirty-one years ago all World Unity Inc. had was the Sun Poem and vision to build the World Unity Landmark. We have come this far because of the generosity of everyone here tonight!” The keynote speaker Crysta Dungee heads up DEI US for Takeda offered personal story that moved people.

Some of the sponsors included Merck, AECOM, Eastern Bank, Rockland Trust, and Tuffs University. We added two new board members, Amar Mandavia and Srish Sardana.

This was a year of new initatives and bringing national attention to the Sun Poem through the support of the digital billboards and NPR Radio!