Organizing a food drive is a great way to help people in your community. You can select the local senior center, food pantry, or shelter that you want to support.
Many community-based organizations lack the capacity or resources to meet the needs of the growing population of hungry Americans. Food pantries and other charitable organizations also often run short on food that is age appropriate (e.g., low sodium for seniors), culturally appropriate and/or fresh. Tight economic times have only further burdened these organizations.
Organize a food drive! Collect food and/or monetary donations for your favorite community-based food organization. There are a few models for how to hold a food drive. This toolkit focuses on the “single-site drop-off” model, where people bring food donations to a place, on a specific date, where volunteers are waiting to receive it.
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Mahatma Gandhi
For a single-site food drop-off event, an organizer will spend 2 to 4 hours each week for several weeks. For a food drive involving numerous drop-off locations and spanning several days or weeks, additional time is needed to cover the length of the drive.
Other volunteer roles: Anywhere from 2 to 10 hours throughout the process.
None.
Everyone! It is helpful to have a detailed-oriented person lead the activity.