How to Organize a Food Drive

What is a food drive?
Major food drives
Why have a food drive?
Where does the food go?
Containers
Transportation of food
Kicking off your food drive
Ideas to enhance your drive
Most needed items

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What is a food drive?

A food drive is a concentrated effort to collect canned foods in a one day to three week period. 

Major food drives

Community food drives provide a variety of food items and are an important source of canned goods. Donor groups include businesses, schools, civic and religious organizations.

Some of our major food drives include:

Scouting For Food
Each year the Boy Scouts spend a Saturday canvassing area neighborhoods collecting food as a part of their annual "good turn." Residents are asked to "be prepared" for the Scouts' visit by having canned and other nonperishable items on hand. This national event plays an important role in helping food banks face the rising demand for food.

Letter Carriers Food Drive
The United States Postal Service annual food drive, when your postal carrier picks up food from your mailbox. The food drive takes place each May across the United States.

Why have a food drive?

In the Alabama, over 750,000  residents are struggling to survive. Poverty and hunger are growing at a time when the most recent statistics from the Comptroller General's office indicate that over 137 million tons of food worth $31 billion are wasted annually - enough to feed 49 million people. Your help is needed to take significant steps toward ending this problem. Even if your food drive provides enough food for only a few families, your drive will be a successful one!

Where does the food go?

The food collected will be distributed to community-based not-for-profit feeding agencies.  These agencies include senior service centers, community kitchens, day care centers, food pantries, battered women shelters, brown bag lunches, food co-ops and meals-on-wheels programs. Each agency is a non-profit registered charity.

Containers

Place containers in central areas that are highly visible and easily accessible to food donors. Cardboard boxes work best for smaller food drives and provide an opportunity to personalize the food drive. For example, a Christmas food drive box could be decorated with Christmas wrapping paper, or a display area could be created to make the containers more eye-catching.

You may also want to  supply your group with enough grocery bags for each donor to use in making his or her food donation.

Transportation of food

Groups are encouraged to deliver their boxes or barrels to the Food Bank when the drive is completed, or periodically as the containers become full. However, if you need to have your food picked up after your drive ends, please call the Food Bank to arrange for a pick-up.  

Kicking off your food drive - suggestions to initiate your food drive 

1. Running a successful food drive requires some organization on your part. It may be helpful to establish a committee to determine the type, theme, dates, and duration of your drive.
2. Select your drive leaders on the basis of their available time, creativity, rapport with others, and leadership skills.
3. Divide your organization by floor, class, building, department, etc.
4. Orientation for department leaders should include:
   • Why there is a need for food
   • Dates and duration of drive
   • How the drive will be run
   • Special company policies
5. Invite a Food Bank representative to address your group

Ideas to enhance your drive

1. Establish a goal for your drive
2. Assign and oversee support functions:
   • Distribution of materials
   • Publicity within your group
   • Handling and counting of food
3. Provide each donor with a bag to fill and return with food items
4. Publicize the suggested food list
5. Update people on the progress of the drive with a newsletter, e-mail, memo, flyers, or information in the break room
6. Visually display the food that has been collected
7. Put posters up in visible locations by a coffee machine or next to the time clock.
8. Decorate collection boxes/barrels
9. Designate a special day on which to bring food
10. Use slogans that relate to your company/school and the food drive
11. Give prizes for innovation or amount of food collected
12. Get the company to match the donated food in some way, such as donating a frozen turkey for every 100 pounds of food collected by employees
13. Hold an event, meeting or party where admission is cans of food
14. Let the media know that you are conducting a food drive
15. Invite a member of the Food Bank to address your group.

Most Needed Foods List