Food and Drive Kit. You can help provide healthy food to the 1 in 8 residents served by Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.

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1 Food and Drive Kit You can help provide healthy food to the 1 in 8 residents served by Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. What s Inside Hunger in Your Community 2 Getting Started 2 Supplies 3 Tips for Success 3 Frequently Asked Questions 5 Creative Ideas 6 Food Drive Shopping List 9 Registration Form 10

2 2 Hunger in Your Community Thank you for deciding to host a food drive! You have the opportunity of to be a key part in ending hunger in your community. The food you collect will add smiles to many faces and will fill many tummies. Did you know? The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano serves 1 in 8 residents In fiscal year 2014, we distributed over 20 million pounds of food Over half the food we distributed was fresh produce 96 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to food programs 1 in 4 emergency food recipients are children Over half of clients had to choose between buying food and paying for their rent or mortgage Why host a food drive? The economy may be getting better, but for far too many in our community that has not yet translated into an income level that can keep food on the table. The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano works with a network of 180 partner agencies like pantries, soup kitchens, community centers and group homes that help us distribute the food you donate directly to those in need locally. You may wonder if your food drive will make a difference. The answer is YES. No matter how much food (or funds) you collect, all donations make an impact. We could not do what we do without the support of the community. Our community is counting on us to end hunger. Thank you in advance for your support and energy! Getting Started Pick your dates: Select your dates for the food drive (the average drive is 2 weeks to 4 weeks but could be for a one day or just at an event). Once your dates are selected, determine when you need the supplies delivered and also picked up. We generally deliver and pick up Monday through Friday 8am to 2pm. If this is a special event, we can work with you on the day of the week and the times. Set a goal: o Will your drive be a competition? It could be one department against another, one city location against another city location, school classes or grades against each other. Give each team a goal and have a prize for the winning team. o Is the drive more of a teambuilding event? If yes, you can still come up with a goal as it will be fun for the group to surpasss the goal. The goal can be to fill xx barrels or can be to surpass a certain weight of food.

3 o 1.25 pounds equates to one meal so you might want to set a goal of meals provided. For example, if your company is 1,000 people you could plan a donation of 1 meal per person, which would then be 1,250 pounds. o Decorate a bulletin board with statistics, the most wanted list and a chart for your progress make it fun (this is optional but can be fun). Location of barrels: Will the barrels be in multiple locations or one location? A competition can mean that the barrels are in multiple locations. Please keep the barrels out of the rain and in a secure area at night or during the weekends. Announce your drive and goal: Make sure you tell everyone the start and finish date of the drive and what foods you want to collect. o This is your chance to educate people about hunger in our community and how your group can help end hunger. o You might want to schedule a kickoff to create interest in the food drive and offer a special treat at the kickoff to everyone who brings a can of food to start the drive. o Advance publicity makes the drive more fun and gets your team to want to donate more food. Register your food drive: Complete and send in the registration form at the back of this packet or call or the Food Drive Coordinator to set up the drive. 3 Supplies Barrels each hold on average 150 pounds 32 inches high by 71 inches around Boxes each hold up to 50 pounds 13 inches x 16 inches by 10 inches deep Posters 11 x 17 inches Flyers 8 ½ x 11 list the most wanted food items (sample further in the packet) Holiday bags give to your donors as a reminder to fill them up Donation envelopes can be used to collect monetary donations Mini donation cans helpful if you are also collecting monetary donations Tips for Success Designate a coordinator who is also the contact for the Food Bank staff. Get others involved: form a committee to help increase your drive and your success. Create a theme or name your food drive (see Creative Ideas). Promote your food drive: o Flyers the flyer could be paired with employee paychecks, in employee s mailbox, in the school bulletin. o Blasts to coworkers or parents (if a school or youth organization) o Use the PA system to make announcements o Schools if you have an electronic billboard, post the food drive dates o Use Social media (Facebook, twitter, etc)

4 4 o Make posters to promote the drive (you could have a contest for the best poster) Provide a paper bag for each employee and ask them to fill the bag. Track your progress. Ask the Food Bank for a tour so you can see what we do and where the food goes (can be before, during or after the drive). Recognize/share your success.

5 Frequently Asked Questions What is the address and hours: o Concord Warehouse: 4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord 94520, Hours are Monday and Friday: 7am to 3:30pm, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 7am to 7pm, Saturday 7:30am to 3:30pm. o Fairfield Warehouse: 2339 Courage Drive, Suite F, Fairfield 94533, Hours are Monday through Friday 7am to 3:30pm and Saturdays by appointment. What hours do the drivers generally come to deliver or pick up? o Monday through Friday 8am to 2pm but let us know if you need a special arrangement. What do I do when the barrel is full? o If the barrel fills up before your final pickup, give us a call (there is a toll-free number on the barrel) and we will send a driver the next work day (Monday through Friday) to pick up and replace the barrel so you can keep collecting food. It is best to call us when the barrel is 2/3 full. Is there a charge for the food drive supplies? o No, as we are very pleased that you are partnering with us to end hunger in our community. Are there volunteer opportunities at the food bank? o If you are interested in volunteering, please volunteerhelpdesk@foodbankccs.org or call (FOOD). Are there special guidelines about the food that I should know? o We do take baby food and pet food and non-food items such as paper towels, toothpaste, diapers (all must be in new, unopened wrappers/packages). o Please no expired food (we can go one year past the expiration date except for baby food). o Please no opened food such as a 25 pound bag of rice that has been ½ used. o Glass Products: we do take them but we have to make sure we handle them gently so they do not break in the barrel and spoil the rest of the donations. Multiple pickups versus one pick up? o Your choice. Some schools/businesses like the visual picture of a lot of food gets everyone excited to fill even more barrels. Some locations don t have a lot of room but they want to collect a lot of food so they call for a pick up after they fill their one or two barrels. Our barrels overflowed what should I do? o If you overflow the barrels, we can deliver extra barrels or you are welcome to use boxes for the extra food. We would prefer the food is in barrels or boxes before the pickup. Is this drive open to the public? o If yes, is there a special promotion that can help promote your drive, such as a can of food equals a free beverage or a can of food is a free game of bowling? Money versus food donations? 5

6 o We love both and always need both. We can turn $1 into many dollars worth of food but we do like the variety of food choices that come in a barrel of food. Collecting food can be a great team building activity and is often easier for you than collecting money. The choice is yours and you can always collect both. How do I find out how much we collected? o We will send you an official thank you letter shortly after the drive. If your drive is during the holidays, the letter may take up to 2 weeks because of the volume. If you would like to know the weight before your letter arrives, please call or . 6 Creative Ideas Ideas to increase donations: o Host a competition and offer a special prize such as an extra day of vacation, longer lunch break, extra recess for schools, casual clothing day at work. o Ask each department or school grade to bring in a particular item (i.e. one group brings in cereal, another group brings in tuna, a third group brings in soup, etc.). o Have theme days such as Macaroni Monday, Tuna Tuesday, Whatever Wednesday, Think of Others Thursdays, Fruity Fridays, PJ Day everyone donates peanut butter so they can wear pajamas to school. o Rewards: If you create an award event such as a dress down day, pizza party, ice cream social or publicity for the winning team, you will collect more food because people often like receiving a reward and seeing the celebration of a large collection of food. o Jeans for Beans: many businesses have business dress but one bank has the employees bring in a bag or can of beans and they receive a dress down sticker for a day of their choice. o Charge canned food for admission to special events such as concerts, luncheons, trainings, ice cream socials or other fun activities. o Divide into teams. Each team creates their name and they have a contest to see who collects the most food. It could be measured by weight or by the number of items. Each team could pick a different item to collect such as one team is tuna, one team is chili, one team is canned corn, etc. o Have raffle tickets for a bag of food and then have prizes (a day off work, etc). o Fill a barrel. Ask the boss to match the food you fill in the barrel if you fill the barrel fast give the boss a set date. o Collect a different type of food each day. Ask the employees to bring in a particular item each day and watch the donations grow. Fun ideas for Your Food Drive: o Create a board and a thermometer to display your progress. o Host a competition between grades, classrooms, company departments, etc. o Build a sculpture of the cans: divide into teams and have each team create a sculpture with the canned food. You can buy cans of food with a particular color

7 to help the theme or wrap the can in colored paper (please leave the original wrapper on the can and just wrap over the wrap). One company a few years ago had a baseball theme and one group made a picture of Brian Wilson s beard and spelled out FEAR THE BEARD. o Stuff a Bus or Pack the Pickup. You can also have a contest to guess how much food is in the vehicle (Drive Out Hunger). o Loose change jar. People can donate their spare change to the jar or a Food Bank mini donation can and donate the coins to the Food Bank to buy fresh produce. o Putting contest: One company in Walnut Creek collects food and then has a nine hole putting course and everyone plays miniature golf around the food cans. They have a winning golf hole design. o Decorate the barrel and/or the location where the barrel is stationed with a celebration theme. One school decorates barrels with Super Bowl football teams colors and try to guess who will win the super bowl with the barrel that collects the most food. o Decorate the barrel with a March Madness basketball theme and assign 2 points to a can of vegetables and 3 points to a box of cereal/can of tuna/jar of peanut butter. Each group could take on the name of their favorite college basketball team and the team with the most points wins the game and the food collection. 7 Schools: o A meal equates to 1.25 pounds. Ask each student to bring in at least 1 meal. Calculate the meals by students in the school to see how many meals you brought in. o One school has a one-day food drive. The students are asked to bring in 10 nonperishable food items, which means they do not have to run the mile that week (they run the mile every Wednesday). They have a very high participation rate and have successfully been following this model for several years. o Connect your drive with spirit week, homecoming or another special week at school to tie in the theme of giving. o Have a competition by grade. The grade that brings in the most food receives a pizza or an ice cream party. This could also be made smaller by holding a competition by classroom. o Have students donate children friendly food such as trail mix bars, juice, raisins, fruit cups, fruit snack packets, granola bars/breakfast bars, cereal, tuna, mac & cheese, etc. Theme Ideas o Sports related: Tackle Hunger, Hit A Home Run Against Hunger, Knock Out Hunger, etc. o Soup Day: decorate boxes/barrels to look like soup caldrons and ask for donations of canned soup. o Holiday themes:

8 Valentine s Day Drive: nonperishable food drive items are white, red or pink on the outside (such as a can of Campbell s soup). Washington s Birthday: Cans or packaging are red, white or blue on the outside. March Children s Drive: focus on food (such as mac&cheese, cups of applesauce, healthy granola bars, etc.) for children in need when they are out for spring break and the school lunch meal is not available. St. Patrick s Day: Cans are green on the outside or green on the inside (such as a can of green beans or peas). Cesar Chavez Day: Cans contain fruit or vegetables representative of what farm workers would pick. Easter: Cans are yellow, pink and light green colors. Earth Day: Cans are green and brown or containing products from the ground such as packaged beans. Cinco de Mayo: Collect red white and green products Mother s Day: Food should be ingredients for something our mothers like to cook for us (i.e. comfort foods). Fourth of July: Cans or packaging are red, white or blue on the outside. Back to School Food Drive: This is a food drive of food that children love such as mac&cheese, cups of applesauce, healthy granola bars, etc. Halloween: Cans are orange on the outside or orange on the inside (such as a can of mandarin oranges). Election Day: Cans or packaging are red, white or blue on the outside. Call the drive Cast A Can. o Skip Lunch, Feed a Bunch: employees can donate the money they would have spent on a lunch or go out and buy nonperishable food to donate. o Make It A Meal: Pair nonperishable food together to make a meal for someone in need: peanut butter and sugar free jelly/jam canned tuna and whole wheat pasta whole wheat pasta and pasta sauce Canned meat and canned vegetables Hearty soups and whole grain crackers Nonperishable ready to eat meals and canned vegetables 8

9 Food Drive Shopping List Help the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano provide nutritious, nonperishable food items like the ones listed below. Natural Peanut Butter Whole Grain Cereals Hearty Low Sodium Soups Beans and Lentils (dry or canned) Canned Tuna and Chicken in Water Canned Fruit in Juice Nonperishable Low Sodium Ready to Eat Meals (chili, ravioli, etc.) Low Sodium Canned Vegetables Brown Rice Whole Wheat/Grain Pasta Canned Tomato Products Drop off food in a collection barrel near you or bring food to either Food Bank warehouse 4010 Nelson Ave, Concord, CA or 2339 Courage Drive, Suite F, Fairfield, CA Find a collection barrel at /ongoingdrives.

10 FOOD DRIVE REGISTRATION FORM Please Check All That Apply YES! We would like to participate in a Traditional Food Drive. YES! We would like to participate in the Buy A Bag Program (Contact Kathy Gleason). Our company/organization would like to match every pound raised by our employees with $1. We would like to organize a volunteer group to sort food. We would like a presentation on hunger and poverty in our community. We would like to participate in the Virtual Food Drive. Company/Organization/School Number of Employees/Students Contact Person Phone Barrel Delivery/Pickup Address City Zip Major Cross Streets Barrels will be delivered to/picked up in main lobby unless specified here Mailing Address (if different from delivery/pickup address) City Zip Number of Barrels Requested Preferred Delivery Date Hours for delivery Preferred Pickup Date Hours for pickup If your barrels become ¾ full before the scheduled pickup date, call us for a pickup and replace. We will be more than happy to do this! Useful Promotional Materials Posters (11 x 17 ) Flyer (master) 10 Most Wanted Food Items New Paper Bags Food Bank Boxes Please FAX, mail or this form to: Joan Tomasini, Food Drive Coordinator Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano PO Box Concord, CA extension 208 FAX: jtomasini@foodbankccs.org Kathy Gleason, Buy A Bag Program Coordinator extension 218 kgleason@foodbankccs.org