HOW TO RUN YOUR COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE & HELP FEED OUR NEIGHBOURS

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1 HOW TO RUN YOUR COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE & HELP FEED OUR NEIGHBOURS

2 We need your help THERE IS A GENUINE NEED FOR FOOD COLLECTIONS IN OUR COMMUNITY. FARE SHARE FOOD BANKS FACES THE CHALLENGE OF GROWING DEMAND. How do we define community? Any group business, school, church, subdivision, sports team, service group you get the idea. How much time should a drive take? - Significant drives have taken LESS than an HOUR to collect food. - There are different types of drives: - Food can be brought to a site and collected - A team could tend a site (eg. a grocery store) and collect contributions. DELIVER DIRECT TO YOUR NEAREST FOOD BANK or ARRANGE for FARE SHARE to pick up.

3 HOW TO GET STARTED 1. Register your community team online at by or by calling Duncan Mackinnon ( ). It s always good to pick a partner or two at the onset to help share the work and motivate one another. Your community can be any neighbourhood, or a group, for example: clubs, teams, church congregation, group of stores, school, office, factory or service club. The more people involved, the more contacts you ll have and the greater your donation success. 3. If you tell Fare Share about what you are doing we can help get the buzz out. Fare Share has wonderful media partners and an active social media program. Keep in touch (admin@fareshare.ca) to ask questions, get support and arrange to drop off food and cash donations at the food bank. Fare Share volunteers can be arranged to pick up from your location, but please schedule in advance. Thank you. 4. Make the time and location convenient for your community to drop off donations; (eg. Saturday morning 10am-12noon at your garage or shipping and receiving dock). You could offer to pick up foods and donations for someone unable to make this time. 2. Download posters, door knockers and shelf talkers online at Using these tools helps Fare Share to build awareness in the community. Place posters up in your office, and around your community, group mailboxes or use as a flyer. Also for download is a smaller version (400px X 600px JPG) for use on Facebook, Twitter and your favourite social media channel.

4 5. When the food drive is complete, the Food Bank managers will report the amount of food and cash donated. Share the results with your neighbours, thank them for their generosity, and talk about future food drives as we know the need is on-going. We will report your great work through the press and 6. HAVE FUN! Be upbeat. Dress up in seasonally festive garb; eg. Santa and his elves, angels or food itself (Fruit of the Loom guys). If you have a large gathering, let us know and we ll notify the media or dispatch one of our photographers. Host a BBQ, potluck, dinner party celebrate your accomplishments! We recommend that from your first communication to the fait accompli if you make it fun, your drive will be more successful! THANK YOU FROM THE MANY VOLUNTEERS WHO SUPPORT NORTHUMBERLAND FARE SHARE FOOD BANKS YOU MAKE OUR JOB EASIER AND FEED MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. YOU CAN FOLLOW FARE SHARE ON OR ON FACEBOOK SEARCH: NORTHUMBERLAND FARE SHARE FOOD BANKS

5 NO TIME FOR A DRIVE? WE WELCOME DONATIONS THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO HELP DONATIONS Like everyone, our organization needs cash. The decided difference is that we make our dollar work hard. With the money raised, we successfully reach our target of distributing about 25,000 lbs. of food each month. Using Food Banks Canada s calculation, that s nearly $800,000 in food. The bottom line is, the more you give the easier it is for our volunteers to do their job and we can provide more and more nutritious offerings to the people we feed. $10 per month goes a long way. And those larger gifts we receive are put into substantial projects that make a considerable difference to how we do business. Donations can be made through our website BMO locations in Port Hope or Cobourg or by sending a cheque. Tax receipts are available for any donation over $10. GIVE FOOD Food comes to us in many ways today. We receive a share from Northumberland County s Food 4 All Warehouse. We pick up from drop boxes located at major grocers and retailers. We often receive from churches and schools and more frequently from community food drives. It s just fabulous how our communities support people who are hungry. Fare Share publishes a shopping list each week. Check out our website and please give generously. VOLUNTEER Fare Share would not exist if not for our dedicated volunteers. The teams are to be commended, because once volunteers join, few leave. There are many positions to fill, from assisting with deliveries, fundraising, volunteer coordination, and administration. If you can spare a bit of time each month, we welcome your application. Register online: Contact us to learn how to put on a food drive in your neighborhood. We can provide all the support you need. MAIN OFFICE MAILING ADDRESS Northam Industrial Park P.O. Box 572 Division St., Unit 17 Cobourg ON K9A 4L3 Cobourg ON K9A 4L Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks Serving Cobourg and Port Hope