Food Drive Ideas

CANstruction – build simple or elaborate sculptures using canned goods.  Then donate the cans.

Food Day – designate days of the week for specific foods, i.e. Macaroni Monday, Tuna Tuesday, Wheaties Wednesday, Turkey Thursday, Fruity Friday.

TGIF (Take Groceries in Friday) – provide brown bags for employees/students to take home and fill with food or encourage them to bring a brown bag lunch and donate the money they would have spent on a lunch.

Bag Hunger Auction – collect auction items from home; “sell” admission tickets (cost of ticket = food item), hold the auction, and then the proceeds benefit local anti-hunger organizations.

Challenges/Competitions – organize a contest between offices/divisions/classrooms/grades with lots of categories:

                                            -largest individual donation

                                            -most protein

                                            -most original design for a food barrel

                                            -raise our weight in food

Read to Feed – for every book a student reads, a can of food is donated.

Eventst – have an event, party, or school production as part of the drive and charge “food admission” – the admission price = a certain number of food items.

Fruity Fines – for one day or several, the school library allows students to “pay fines” with canned fruit or other food items.

Let the Stars Come Out – use a local celebrity to help increase publicity and contributions.

Fill ‘er Up, Stuff-a-Bus, Fill-a-Truck, Fill A Shopping Cart – fill an office, gymnasium, truck, bus or other designated area with food. Outline a map of your state on your gymnasium floor, athletic field, or school grounds and fill in area with food.

No-Show Picnic – host a picnic where no food is served but instead is collected. 

Hunger Walk, Run, Bike, or Dance-a-thon – have sponsors pledge food instead of money

Wash Away Hunger—Car wash

More themes:  “Tons of Tuna,”  “Oodles of Noodles,”  “MEAT the need” – canned meat drive,  

 “Hunger doesn’t take a Vacation” - Summer , “Take a bite out of Hunger”