Keyword Sponsor Donor Program

Why organize a food drive?
Simply put, food drives are a great way to build community values and promote compassion. They are a relatively easy community project to undertake and if conducted properly can generate a great deal of enthusiasm amongst the participants. Once you are ready to conduct a food drive just call a food bank and they will help get you started. They can provide you with containers and signage that will help to organize the drive and can schedule a time to pickup the food after the food drive is over. The food items that are always in great demand but short supply tend to be canned meat/fish, powdered milk and baby food and formula. We also recommend organic food (when possible), low-sodium, and health food oriented products. Household items such as soap, detergents and toothpaste are also always in great demand.

How to organize a successful food drive
1. Running a successful food drive will require some organization on your part. It may be helpful to establish a couple of friends/parents/teachers to determine the theme, dates and duration of your drive. Select a theme relevant to the interests of the community members. A holiday, for example, can be a great way to mobilize interest in any community. In terms of duration, drives can generally last anywhere from one day to three weeks. (Things to consider when planning the duration are: storage for barrels and food, volunteers to maintain the drive daily, and strategies for keeping enthusiasm high during the drive). All things considered, one week might be best in a school setting, but is a detail that should be discussed with the school staff, i.e. teachers and principal, as well as any parents who might be helping out. (Speak to your teacher(s) about incorporating a whole lesson plan into the schedule revolving around hunger and poverty. This is a way to further personalize the issue and to gain a more complete understanding of how critical hunger really is. You can even incorporate films such as Silent Killer into the week to provide more multimedia background.)

2. Good promotion is key to the success of a food drive and as a result you should publicize it in any way possible. You can put posters up in the most visible areas of the school such as front doors, cafeteria, and hallways. An announcement on the intercom or in your individual classrooms will encourage support. Interest can be maintained in the food drive through periodic announcements in the morning about the importance of food banks and about the classes that are leading and their respective totals, keeping the whole school involved and motivated. A food drive can be a real opportunity to not only help bring more food to hungry families and children, but also to educate your community about hunger in its own backyard. Try contacting the local media and telling them about your efforts; people love seeing stories about young people getting involved in their community. Not only will it raise the awareness about hunger, it will bring in more food!

3. Set a goal for your food drive - how many pounds of food or number of barrels do you want to collect? It might be a good idea to have a little competition to generate excitement among your classmates. One idea is to divide up your school by class and have a little friendly competition. For instance, each class can be challenged to bring in at least 100 items and each student can be challenged to bring in at least one to two items. Providing a prize to the classroom that collects the most food might be an option as well, to further promote the students to get involved. Otherwise, it is a matter of coordinating a place to set up a table and collection bins. Remember, be as creative as possible when motivating the students to get involved. There are no rules and the sole motivation is to feed more people!

4. If you are particularly adventurous you can challenge your parents or parent's business to match the donations collected by the students. For example, you can challenge them to match the food drive can-for-can or one dollar for every pound of food collected by the students (the food bank will weigh the food collected once they are back at their warehouse and provide you with the total weight).

5. Place containers in a central area that are highly visible and easily accessible to food donors (in the case of the competing classrooms, a bin would then be placed in each room). Cardboard boxes work but for larger food drives the food bank will usually provide donation bins. Set up the table, information and posters (if provided).

6. Sit back and watch the food donations stack up! Don't forget to thank all of those who helped take your food drive from an idea to a reality.

A Conscious Alliance Food Drive
Organizing a C.A. supported food drive has some additional elements to it. If we decide to furnish a poster for your particular event we will help coordinate the artist, image and printing of the poster. We will also provide literature, brochures, stickers, and poster archives to further support your efforts.