Do it Yourself Food Drive

Met Council and the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE) have been working together more and more. Most recently the folks at MJE sponsored a food drive that benefited Metro House, our low income housing site in the Bronx for people with physical or mental disabilities. We and the residents at Metro House thank them for their hard work!

Does organizing people and food or clothes to benefit those in need sound interesting? Met Council can give you some pointers about how to set up a successful drive.

Pick an item you will be able to get
For example, if you live in an apartment with many young couples, have a drive for baby supplies.
Have clear regulations
If you ask for clothes, make sure that every flyer says “new or very gently used clothes.” If you ask for toys, make sure to specify that they canʼt have batteries. If you ask for food, make sure to say that it has to be kosher. If you ask for books, make sure to specify an age group.
Publicize!
Put up flyers by the water coolers, in the cafeteria, in the elevators, on the stairs, in bathroom stalls,in the lobby, and anywhere else that has high foot traffic. Print your flyers on bright paper or with bright colors so that they will get peopleʼs attention.
Contact!
Send emails to your friends, people who live in your building and colleagues so that they all know when and where they can go to drop off their donations.
Get help!
If you are doing a drive at work, ask people in different departments to help publicize and promote the drive. If you are at an apartment, ask your doorman to tell people when they walk in about the item drive. If you have a co-op board ask the president to send an email to everyone in your building.
Create incentives to entice people to donate
Give a prize to whoever brings in the most items, or buy lunch for the person who donates the most. Get your boss to shave his head if 200 cans of tuna are brought in. Do anything that you think may make people donate.

Has anyone else done a drive before? Do you have anything to add to this list? What made yours successful or not?

Please contact the Volunteer Department if this sounds like something you want to be involved in!