Thank you for signing up to host a food drive!
Below you will find everything you need to get started!
We’re so excited to hold a food drive with you! Move For Hunger organizes thousands of food drives every year to help fill the shelves of food banks nationwide. Together, we’re going to provide even more meals to your neighbors in need.
About Hunger
More than 34 million Americans, including 1 in 8 children, face hunger every day. There are people who are facing hunger in your community because hunger exists in every state and county in the United States. Your local food banks, shelters, and soup kitchens rely on the donations they receive from people like you to help keep their shelves stocked. Food drives are also a great way to raise awareness about hunger and inspire others to take action.
Location Is Everything
Don’t hold a food drive in the middle of nowhere; go where the people are! Offices, schools, grocery stores, and sporting events are all great locations!
Make it a Competition
Offering an incentive or a prize to donors can help create energy and excitement about your food drive.
Holding a food drive at a school? Reward the class who collects the most with a pizza party. Holding a food drive at work? Set a goal and promise the staff a free bagel breakfast if they reach it. Discount coupons, entries to a raffle, and admission to an event are other ways to persuade potential donors.
Promote Your Food Drive
Spread the Word: Post your flyers in high traffic areas! Use your company newsletter or e-mail the staff to let them know it’s happening! Share the news on social media!
Get Social: Social media is an excellent way to reach a lot of people with minimal effort. Not sure what to say? Here’s a sample post that will work on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:
We’re holding a food drive with @MoveForHunger! We’ll be collecting donations of non-perishable on/from {start/end dates} to help provide meals to our neighbors in need. All of the donations will be delivered to the {your local food bank}. Hope we can count your support!
Raise Awareness: Move For Hunger also has dozens of shareable infographics in our Visualize Hunger library. These graphics were designed to educate people on just how widespread food insecurity is in the United States and to encourage them to take action.
Food Collection
Set up sturdy cardboard boxes or reusable plastic bins to collect your donations! You can ask for free boxes at grocery or department stores and decorate them with your event flyers.
Make It Fun
Don’t overthink it! The goal is to collect food for those in need. Whether you collect a lot or a little, every bit of food you collect will help feed people in your community. Have some fun with it! Keep sharing pictures and updates about the food drive with your team and on social media!
Most Commonly Needed Items
Low sodium, low sugar and whole grain items prefered
- Peanut or other nut butters
- Chicken broth
- Canned tuna and chicken
- Canned fruit in light syrup
- Canned veggies
- Canned soups, stews, and chili
- Beans, canned or dried
- Boxed mac & cheese
- Pasta, rice, and quinoa
- Pasta sauce
- Baby food and formula
- Shelf-stable milk (rice, almond, soy)
- Cereal, oatmeal, and granola
- Spices
Getting Your Food to the Food Bank
Congratulations! You held a food drive! Now we need to get the donations to your local food bank. Follow the instructions below for next steps:
I Collected Less Than 25 Full Boxes/Bins of Food:
You can bring your food donations to any food bank or pantry. Not sure where the closest food bank is? Try searching on Feeding America or FoodPantries.org. Still not sure where to bring your food? Email [email protected] and we can recommend a local food pantry.
The food bank will provide you with a weight receipt, which you should send back with our Food Drive Donation Weight Receipt Form. Send us your weight receipt and pictures of your food drive, and you'll receive a free Move For Hunger T-Shirt!
I Collected More Than 25 Full Boxes/Bins of Food:
That’s awesome - we can help you get it to the food bank! Fill out this form to get your food picked up. Please keep in mind that our partners are volunteers who assist with these pickups around their regularly scheduled jobs, so we try to give them a 30-day window to pick up food donations.
Fill out Food Pickup Request Form
If you would rather bring the donations to the food bank yourself, please let us know and we can suggest one in your area. The food bank will provide you with a weight receipt, which you should send back with our Food Drive Donation Weight Receipt Form.
*Please note: While we are in most locations, we aren’t everywhere (yet). But we’ll do our best to help you out!
Finishing Touches
Officially end the food drive by thanking everyone who donated and sharing the results. Photos are a great way to show everyone how much food you collected, so make sure you take a picture with all of your donations! Post the photo on social media, or attach it to an email to thank everyone for their help.
After we receive the Food Drive Donation Form from you, we will be able to send you a certificate to officially recognize your contribution to our fight to end hunger.
FAQ
What kind of support does Move For Hunger provide to make my food drive a success?
Move For Hunger provides flyers & best practices to help you host a great food drive! Depending on how much food you collect, we may also be able to have a local moving company deliver your donations to the food bank as well.
Does Move For Hunger provide boxes or bins for my food drive?
We do not provide bins or boxes. In an effort to be more sustainable, we encourage people to reuse any boxes they might have laying around. You can also ask for free boxes at your local grocery store. Feel free to decorate them to your heart’s content. Seriously, go bananas and send photos.
What kind of food should I collect?
Move For Hunger accepts unopened, non-perishable items only. Please avoid expired food or food in glass containers. Even though your aunt might make the best jam in town we, unfortunately, cannot accept it unless it was purchased from a store and is still sealed. Check out our Most Commonly Needed Items list to give you some additional ideas!
Will you pick up my food?
If you collect 25 or more full boxes of non-perishable food donations, and as long as we have a transportation volunteer in your area, we will schedule a pick up of your donations and deliver them to your local food bank! Please note that the transportation volunteers assist with these pickups in between their regularly scheduled jobs. We try to give them a 30-day window to pick up food donations.
If you collect less than five (5) full boxes of food, we will suggest a local food bank or pantry that you can personally deliver the donations to.
