How To Run A Food Drive

Hosting a food drive is easy.

Pick the dates and location of your food drive.

We can supply food donation barrels or boxes for your food drive.

While the way you decide to conduct your food drive is completely up to you, most follow these basic steps:

Decide on the dates, locations, and supplies needed for your drive.
Decide on what ‘type’ of food drive to do. Do you want to collect ‘most needed’ food supplies (more info) or a ‘themed’ food drive (more info)
Contact the Watertown Food Pantry for barrel delivery and pick up.
Promote your drive to the prospective participants (employees, customers, members, etc.)
Start collecting food and money. If your barrels become full during your drive, contact the Food Pantry via email or call 920-390-4252 to arrange a time to drop-off your barrels at our location and we'll empty them for you.

Selecting dates

First, decide on dates for your food drive. Food drives can run as little as two hours or for up to two months. Some donors even collect food and money year ‘round. The average drive is usually about 2 to 3 weeks.

Setting a goal

Setting a goal is a good way to motivate your donors and it provides a sense of accomplishment at the end of your drive.

Choosing your locations

If you have multiple locations, you may want to recruit someone at each of those sites to help you manage donations at each building. Select high-traffic areas where the barrels will be noticeable and convenient for donors to access. Be sure to consider safety and security issues when choosing your locations.

How many barrels?

Determine how many barrels to order, one barrel holds an average of 125 pounds of food.

Scheduling Pickup of Barrels

Once you have planned your drive, you should contact the Food Pantry to arrange a time for you to pick-up the barrels from us.

Please Plan to Deliver Donated Food Items

Not unlike your home, resources are tight here at The Food Pantry. We do not have paid staff drivers, a fleet of vehicles or significant fuel budgets to complete pick-ups so it's best for you to deliver your donation directly to The Food Pantry (address & map).

Yes, we realize we are asking you to do so after you’ve been thoughtful enough to conduct a food drive, but we hope that you’ll understand and take this extra step on our behalf.

Thank you for your cooperation.