A daughter is using billboards to find a kidney for ailing father

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A Miamisburg daughter’s decision to pursue a big idea -- to use a billboard to help find a kidney for her ailing father -- is paying off in the financial capital she hasn't had to spend and in the personal capital she's getting from two outdoor advertising companies and the kindness of strangers.

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Karen Huynh's goal was to get out the word about needing a kidney in a big way, so she reached out to advertising company about buying billboard space.

Lamar Advertising -- for free -- donated nine digital billboards that will advertise Thanh Huynh's need for a kidney until one is found. Family-owned and operated Key-Ads, Inc. also has joined the campaign and is donating billboard space.

"Why not try everything that I could, to keep him here with us for as long as possible," Karen Huynh told News Center 7's Molly Koweek on Thursday.

Keeping the billboards in play for four weeks would normally cost a client $9,000. Not for this client, said Tanner Hohenbrink, with Lamar.

"We always want to look for ways to reach out and help out the community," he said.

Since the billboards went up Monday, Karen Huynh said seven people, some she has never met, have approached her with offers to help. The generosity, she said, has been overwhelming.

The reaction to Karen Huynh's venture seems in keeping with an observation from Marcus Sheridan, an award-winning keynote speaker on business, marketing and communication: "Great content is the best sales tool in the world."

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