We are excited about your interest in helping to end hunger in our community. Our success and growth over the years can be directly attributed to individuals and groups like your own who volunteer their time and energy to help improve the lives of others. A little giving goes a long way. Thank you!
This packet contains information you will need to organize a successful food drive. Please keep in mind that we are always here to help answer any questions that may arise and to brainstorm with you on some creative ways to ensure a very successful drive.
Please let us know if you decide you would like to conduct a food drive.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Organizing a food drive can be fun and exciting. The best way to ensure a smooth effort is to spend time planning the drive. The primary steps to include in your plan are:
Set dates: When setting the date, allow plenty of time to prepare and get the word out.
Set a goal: Decide how much food you would like to collect during your food drive. How many potential contributors do you have? How much can you reasonably expect to collect from each donor? Will you collect food or cash / or both?
Develop a Collection System: Determine how and where food will be collected. You can use boxes, barrels or bins. Small to medium-size boxes work best for food drives. They aren't too heavy when full and can be decorated with festive wrap or Community Food Share posters. We encourage you to collect your own boxes for food drives.
Food Delivery: Once collected, one of the best ways you can helps us is by delivering the food to the Community Food Share warehouse in Niwot, located at 6363 Horizon Lane. We are in the Monarch Office Park, off Highway 52 near the Diagonal Highway (Hwy 119) - please refer to this link for directions and operating hours. Your extra effort to deliver the food helps the food bank be more efficient.
If your drive has generated 1,500 pounds or less (up to 150 grocery bags), you might consider delivering the food directly to one of our Member Agencies (partial list below). Please contact the agency directly to see if they have the space to store it, and would like to accept delivery.
Longmont
O.U.R. Center
250 3rd Ave.
303-772-5529
Good News Center
120 9th Ave, #A10B
303-678-9550
Boulder
Emergency Family Assistance Association
1575 Yarmouth
303-442-3042
Lafayette
Sister Carmen Community Center
701 W. Baseline
303-665-4342
Louisville
Louisville United Methodist Church
741 Jefferson Ave
303-666-8812
Broomfield
Broomfield Crossroads Cares
6900 W. 117th Ave.
303-918-0075
PUBLICITY TIPS
The success of your drive will depend on how well you get the word out. Here are some tips to make it easier.
Come up with a fun slogan and theme for your drive. Some theme ideas include:
Designate a company day to bring in food to Community Food Share
Allow casual dress for a day if the individual brings food
Hold an event/party where the cost of admission is 10 or more cans of food
Hold a dinner party where admission is a bag of food
Hold an intra-company competition and award a prize for the most food collected
Make sure to include the following information in your publicity materials:
Develop materials: These include flyers, posters, banners for lunchroom, articles for your newsletter, interoffice memos or emails, public service announcements and press releases.
Click here to download the "Most Needed Food Items" flyer, and feel free to print as many as you require!
SHOPPING LIST
Food items that are urgently needed by our member agencies and clients include:
Canned Fruit
100% Fruit Juice
Cold & Hot Cereal
Canned Tuna/Fish and Meat
Canned Chili and Stew
Pasta Sauce
Peanut Butter
Many of our member agencies and clients are also in need of non-food items. These include:
Diapers
Shampoo
Laundry detergent
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
MONETARY DONATIONS
Since we are a member of Feeding America, the nationwide network of food banks, we can obtain truckloads of food donated from the manufacturer, just for the cost of freight and packaging. We can also buy on the wholesale market. If people would rather donate money instead of food, we can use those dollars to obtain four times more food than your contributors could have bought with equivalent dollars at the grocery store. Donors can simply make a check out to Community Food Share. (and money is so much easier to carry than heavy boxes!)
