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The A-B-Cs of Holding a Food Drive
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CUMAC regularly feeds 3,000 food insecure clients a month. In other words, it takes a lot of food to make sure we serve our community! Holding a collection is a fun and rewarding way to ensure we can get food to those who need it most.
Collections can be held anywhere: work, school, your religious home, at your local grocery store. They offer a chance to use your creativity and organization skills in an incredibly rewarding way. |
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1. Contact CUMAC & inform us of your interest!
- Call us at (973) 742-5518 or e-mail us at volunteer@cumacecho.org. CUMAC will help
coordinate logistics of the drive.
2. Determine a timeline for the food drive.
- Choose an "end date" for your food drive - the last day participants may drop off
food. You can count back from that date to determine an ideal start date,
depending on how much time you want to allot for the collection.
- Determining the length of the drive is entirely up to you. If you only allow for one or two
days for people to bring in food, there may be many who forget. If you allow an entire
month, you may end up with more food than you can handle. Determine a timeline based
on your own capacity. One or two weeks is generally an adequate amount of time to collect
a large amount of food without overwhelming you.
3. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!
- The most crucial element of a successful food drive is simply ensuring that people know
about it. If they know there is a food drive, they will bring the food.
- Once your timeline has been determined, get the word out right away.
- Make sure people are aware of when and where they can drop off food. Don't forget to
include "Most Needed Items" and indicate a contact person with your group and CUMAC
for any questions.
- If you are conducting the drive over a period of time, we suggest a "reminder"
announcement - through e-mail, social media, or phone - toward the end.
- CUMAC can provide flyers and/or handouts for your convenience.
4. Start Collecting.
- It would be a great help to us if you could collect food in paper or plastic grocery bags. This
not only makes it easy to transport the food, but we can also then reuse the bags for
distribution of food to our clients.
- Make sure you take a look at our Most Needed Food Items.
5. Arrange for pick-up or drop-off of food to be donated.
- Pick-Up: CUMAC would be happy to pick up the proceeds of your food drive. We operate a
box truck and a cargo van. We simply ask that you schedule an appointment with us,
preferably a week in advance as our vehicles have very busy schedules. If you are
considering a long-term food drive, we can schedule more than one pick-up.
- Drop-Off: You are also welcome to drop the food off at our Paterson warehouse (located at
223 Ellison Street) so you can see our facilities and get an idea of how all your hard work
will make an impact. Also, some groups who conduct food drives choose to volunteer in the
warehouse the day they bring in the food. This gives groups the chance to witness our
operations first hand and see how quickly our food resources are exhausted. If this
opportunity interests you, please mention it in your initial contact with CUMAC. Bringing
your collection to CUMAC would be especially helpful as we work to replace our 20 foot
truck.
6. A food drive can be fun - get creative with it!
- Make it a challenge! Set goals for yourself - perhaps a number of bags, or certain
poundage of food.
- Offer incentives to your participants. A school group could have grade levels or classes
compete against one another - whichever brings in the most food could be awarded
anything from a pizza party to mere "bragging rights".
- Consider a theme for your food drive. A popular theme drive has been the "Soup-er Bowl
Sunday" drive - groups collect only cans of soup, a high-demand item at the pantry -
leading up to the Super Bowl in January. This theme lends itself to a creative process.
Groups can divide into teams and compete to score touchdowns (i.e. bringing in certain
food items or reaching goals). Feel free to contact our office for more potential themes!
- Try these ideas, or brainstorm some of your own - whatever it takes to motivate your group
to a successful drive.
- Call us at (973) 742-5518 or e-mail us at volunteer@cumacecho.org. CUMAC will help
coordinate logistics of the drive.
2. Determine a timeline for the food drive.
- Choose an "end date" for your food drive - the last day participants may drop off
food. You can count back from that date to determine an ideal start date,
depending on how much time you want to allot for the collection.
- Determining the length of the drive is entirely up to you. If you only allow for one or two
days for people to bring in food, there may be many who forget. If you allow an entire
month, you may end up with more food than you can handle. Determine a timeline based
on your own capacity. One or two weeks is generally an adequate amount of time to collect
a large amount of food without overwhelming you.
3. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise!
- The most crucial element of a successful food drive is simply ensuring that people know
about it. If they know there is a food drive, they will bring the food.
- Once your timeline has been determined, get the word out right away.
- Make sure people are aware of when and where they can drop off food. Don't forget to
include "Most Needed Items" and indicate a contact person with your group and CUMAC
for any questions.
- If you are conducting the drive over a period of time, we suggest a "reminder"
announcement - through e-mail, social media, or phone - toward the end.
- CUMAC can provide flyers and/or handouts for your convenience.
4. Start Collecting.
- It would be a great help to us if you could collect food in paper or plastic grocery bags. This
not only makes it easy to transport the food, but we can also then reuse the bags for
distribution of food to our clients.
- Make sure you take a look at our Most Needed Food Items.
5. Arrange for pick-up or drop-off of food to be donated.
- Pick-Up: CUMAC would be happy to pick up the proceeds of your food drive. We operate a
box truck and a cargo van. We simply ask that you schedule an appointment with us,
preferably a week in advance as our vehicles have very busy schedules. If you are
considering a long-term food drive, we can schedule more than one pick-up.
- Drop-Off: You are also welcome to drop the food off at our Paterson warehouse (located at
223 Ellison Street) so you can see our facilities and get an idea of how all your hard work
will make an impact. Also, some groups who conduct food drives choose to volunteer in the
warehouse the day they bring in the food. This gives groups the chance to witness our
operations first hand and see how quickly our food resources are exhausted. If this
opportunity interests you, please mention it in your initial contact with CUMAC. Bringing
your collection to CUMAC would be especially helpful as we work to replace our 20 foot
truck.
6. A food drive can be fun - get creative with it!
- Make it a challenge! Set goals for yourself - perhaps a number of bags, or certain
poundage of food.
- Offer incentives to your participants. A school group could have grade levels or classes
compete against one another - whichever brings in the most food could be awarded
anything from a pizza party to mere "bragging rights".
- Consider a theme for your food drive. A popular theme drive has been the "Soup-er Bowl
Sunday" drive - groups collect only cans of soup, a high-demand item at the pantry -
leading up to the Super Bowl in January. This theme lends itself to a creative process.
Groups can divide into teams and compete to score touchdowns (i.e. bringing in certain
food items or reaching goals). Feel free to contact our office for more potential themes!
- Try these ideas, or brainstorm some of your own - whatever it takes to motivate your group
to a successful drive.
If you would like to conduct a food drive to benefit CUMAC, or have any questions, please contact us at 973-742-5518 or at volunteer@cumacecho.org