Make a difference in our community by organizing a drive at your place of business, school, congregation or community group any time of the year. Marion-Polk Food Share makes coordinating a food and fund drive easy and fun by providing you with all of the materials and idea on how to make your drive a success. As you plan your drive, please consider the following:
Before the food drive
• Choose the dates for your drive. Food drives can run as little as two hours, one week, one month or all year-round. You decide.
The average business food drive is usually 3-4 weeks and the average grocery store food drive is 1 day. Typically people lose interest in food drives that last more than 4 weeks.
• Select a theme.
A theme should be relevant to the interests of community members and touches peoples’ feelings about the need. Click here for a list of themes and success tips.
• Set a goal.
Determine what your organization wants to achieve by running a food and fund drive. We highly recommend that you set both food poundage and financial donation goals. If you’ve participated in the past, consider setting a “stretch goal” that will significantly improve upon your prior performance. To give you an idea of how far your food donations will go; the average food box for a family of 4 contains close to 50 pounds of dry-goods.
• Choosing your locations.
If you have multiple locations, you may want to recruit someone to help manage donations at each site. Select high-traffic areas where the barrels will be noticeable and convenient for donors to access. Possible locations include entryways, staff lounges/cafeterias, and lobbies. You will want to keep the barrels out of the rain and in a secure area on the weekends and evenings.
• How many barrels?
Determine how many barrels to order. A 55-gallon barrel holds an average of 250 pounds of food. A good way to estimate this is by dividing your goal by 250. This will tell you how many barrels will be needed to hold the amount of pounds you are trying to collect.
During the drive
• What if your barrels are full before your pick-up date?
If your barrels are full before your drive is over we would be happy to schedule a barrel exchange. Our drivers will bring empty barrels and pickup your full ones. Please call us at 503-581-3855 ext. 320 to make necessary arrangements.
• How can you get additional supplies?
All food drive supplies are provided by Marion-Polk Food Share at no cost. Additional supplies, such as posters, envelopes, and boxes can be delivered at the time of your barrel exchange or delivery. Be sure to contact us two days prior to your scheduled barrel exchange if you would like additional materials. If you do not need a barrel exchange, additional materials can be picked up directly at our warehouse.
• Give regular updates on the amount of food and funds you’ve collected. This will help keep your participants engaged.
• Track progress toward your goal. Using visuals like a thermometer or tally board help. Send creative messages to keep people excited about reaching the goal.
• Publicize the “10 Most Wanted” foods list.
• Plan a time to bring your group to Marion-Polk Food Share for a tour or volunteer project.
After the drive
• Announce the results. Be sure to thank everyone who contributed to the success of your drive. If you would like someone from Food Share to attend a check presentation or awards ceremony, please let us know.
• Food Share will send you a letter listing the total amount of food and money raised during your event.
• Celebrate! You’ve just made our community a better place!
All food drive supplies can be ordered at no cost by contacting Brian Haley at 503-581-3855 ext. 320. Please make orders at least a couple days before the drive is scheduled to begin.
If food collection barrels get full before your drive ends, deliver the food to our warehouse or let us know and we’ll schedule a food pick-up.