Food Drive

[Dr. Teeth]

Maybe the wrong format/forum.   My oldest son wants to organize a food drive as part of his public service project.

 

Anybody here have experience or ideas in making one of these work?   
 

His current idea is putting out donation boxes at the rock climbing gym (aka his second home) and his school.   I’d sort of like to see him take an extra step/make it bigger.

 

Thank you for any ideas

[BeeZee]

He might want to contact the local Senior Center, Library, and/or Municipal Building to see if he can set them up as donation locations. I've seen local kids do something similar and our town puts out a weekly email with various notices/events that include the info.

[blue_dolphin]

I assume the food collected will go to a local food bank or community pantry, perhaps one where he already volunteers. Has he sought guidance from that recipient organization? 
 

If he hasn’t already done so, have him Google “food drive ideas” for schools or gyms or kids or wherever he wants to focus. Lots of good theme ideas there for Halloween and other holidays. 

[Smithy]

Another question is how to spread the word. Is there a local online forum (like Nextdoor, for instance) that would be useful for spreading the word? Or put up flyers at strategic locations?

[AlaMoi]

smooze up your local (independent) supermarkets.

chain companies may have "policies" prohibiting local managers from cooperating . . .

 

the signage/info HAS to be extremely pointed, effective and concise.

people see it going in - I've seen people donating canned good right out of their bags on leaving -

I surmise they bought the stuff with the intent to instantly donate on the way out.

[Smithy]

6 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

smooze up your local (independent) supermarkets.

chain companies may have "policies" prohibiting local managers from cooperating . . .

 

the signage/info HAS to be extremely pointed, effective and concise.

people see it going in - I've seen people donating canned good right out of their bags on leaving -

I surmise they bought the stuff with the intent to instantly donate on the way out.

 

Now that you mention it, I remember going into a Walmart one time and passing a Boy Scout or Cub Scout group with signage, a shopping cart and participating scouts and adults. The idea was to "fill the cart" for the local food shelf. My husband and I bought a bag's worth of non-perishables for the purpose and dropped them in the cart on the way out. I'd forgotten about that. It was years ago, but it was a Walmart so that particular manager was open to the idea at the time.