Home
About Us
How to Help
Services and Programs
Agency List
Events and Appeals
News and Photos
Publications
Career Opportunities
FAQs
Contact Us
Search

HOW TO HELP

Donate Money

Donate Food

Food Drives

Donate Time

FOOD DRIVES

Food and fund drives are wonderful ways to support the Food Bank’s work. We encourage you to seek donations of protein items (tuna, canned meat, peanut butter, etc.), prepared foods (canned stews, chili, ravioli, hearty soups, etc.), and cereal if you are conducting a food drive. All food items are appreciated, but some are more difficult to get, and therefore are more valuable for the agencies we serve.

We also encourage you to offer people the opportunity to make a financial donation in lieu of a food donation. People often forget to bring in food or would prefer to donate cash, so collecting monetary donations allows more people to participate and makes the drive more successful. We use the funds to pick up, store, and distribute the large amount of donated food we receive from the food industry. For every dollar we spend, we are able to distribute $10 - $12 worth of food.

How To Host a Food Drive

To make your food drive a success, follow these handy tips. For more information, please contact the Regional Food Bank at 518-786-3691.

  1. Register your food drive with the Food Bank by completing and returning the Food Drive Registration Form (PDF). Submitting this form puts you on our Food Drive Calendar and helps us keep things organized.
  2. Create a theme for your food drive. Use our theme guide for ideas, or create your own (if you would like to collect food specifically for children, click here for our BackPack Program flier.) Run a food drive in connection with a special event or holiday celebration.
  3. Set a date for your food drive. A two-week food drive is usually about right. Shorter food drives need to be very well publicized to be effective.
  4. Publicize, publicize, publicize! Posters, flyers, e-mails, newsletter articles, payroll inserts, and public service announcements are all effective ways to let people know about your food drive. It helps to provide people with a contact person within your organization who can answer questions. The Food Bank can also send a speaker to your organization to talk about the issue of hunger and what we can all do about it.
  5. Choose a method for collecting food. Please keep collection containers to a reasonable size. Remember that even a small box will become quite heavy when filled with canned food. Large boxes and bins are very difficult to move once they’re filled with food. Please contact Tracey Martin at the Food Bank (518-786-3691, ext. 227) if you would like the Food Bank to supply you with collection boxes.
  6. Double the value of your donation by delivering it directly to the Food Bank. If you let us know when you’re dropping off your food, we can arrange a tour of our warehouse for you. If a pick-up by the Food Bank is necessary, arrangements must be made in advance.
  7. Thank everyone in your organization for their participation.
  8. Share your information with us. If your organization’s newsletter or local paper publishes anything regarding your food drive, please send us a copy for our records. Thank you!

Please note that the above Food Drive Registration Form is an Adobe Acrobat® Reader® software fill-in form. To take advantage of this feature you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or later installed on your PC. To download the latest free Acrobat Reader software version for your PC, click this link:

  
 
  Website Design Copyright ©  CharityAdvantage.com