How to Organize a Food Drive at Your Child's School

Holding a canned food drive is something that many schools do but you'd be surprised to find out that some schools do not have a drive simply because there is no one to be in charge of it. Holding a food drive is good not only for the community but it teaches children to help others.

Organizing a food drive isn't as hard as you might think. It's a matter of speaking to the right people and picking an organization. To make it easier for your school, pick a charity that will give you a container to hold donated items that will also pick up your donations when the drive is finished. This article will give you a few additional tips to holding a food drive at your child's school.

#1: Principal Approval

I've said it before and I'll say it again, before you do anything at your child's school that requires a commitment, you must get principal approval. The principal is in charge at your school; they oversee everything and make sure there are no problems. You can't start organizing a food drive without their OK first so as tempting as it may be to contact the charities first, ask the principal for approval beforehand.

#2: Charity to Support

Pick a charity to support. There are several that need food donations so that they can feed the people in need. As mentioned above, make it easier for your school by picking a charity that will pick up the donations when you are finished. When my school does a food drive, we picked an organization that gave us a large container to place on school grounds that we could pick the food in. Then, at the end of the drive, they came and picked up the food so it wasn't any extra work on the school.

#3: Get Student Council Involved

The Student Council is the face of all the students at the school. Have them be involved in the drive. They can take count of how many food items have been collected and then take the food to put into the bin.

#4: Contest

Contests are fun for kids pure and simple so while you're collecting food for a good cause, make it fun. Reward the class that brings in the most food with a pizza or ice cream party. Kids may want to bring in more food if they get to be in a competition which is good for the charity because you'll be gathering them more food.

#5: Check Expiration Dates

You don't want to give a charity expired food so as it is being put into the food collection bin, be sure to check the dates. Someone may have accidentally turned in some expired food and didn't even realize it. Going through the food as you put it in ensures that you won't give the charity food they can't use.

#6: Send Out Reminder Fliers

Fliers are key to your food drive. Of course you'll have the initial flier sent home introducing what you are doing but reminder fliers are key because the original flier sent home with a student may have gotten lost or they simply forgot that a drive was going on. Depending on the length of your drive, consider sending home an additional one to two fliers.