How to start food drive

If you decide to participate, contact Executive Chef Ron Hall, Mercy Iowa City, 500 E. Market Street, Iowa City, IA 52245; or by e-mail

Set a date for the last week in July.
Use the Thanksgiving in July logo on promotional materials | download logo here
Partner with other community minded organizations.
Schedule the first planning session around the first of May.
Select a food pantry, shelter, or other appropriate agency to receive the food. You may choose more than one and split the food between them.
Invite a representative from the agency you are supporting to your meetings. They will be better informed when answering media questions later. You will also need their input regarding their agency for your mailing. They may also become part of your collection efforts.
Work closely with your receiving agency so foods can be properly collected.
Request only nonperishable canned or packaged goods for the drive.
Purchase a mailing list of businesses used by your local Chamber of Commerce to introduce our food drive to the community. The printing and postage will be your only cash expense. You might consider getting sponsors for this tax-deductible expense.
Designate a phone number or address for people to register their food drives.
Many people donated cash. Determine in advance who the checks should be made payable to. We estimated each $1,000 cash donation was equivalent to one ton of food.
You will need a sponsor to supply trucks/semi-trailers on the final day of the drive.
Request volunteers to receive and load food on the collection day of the drive. Two people per truck should be sufficient. Consider two shifts of two hours each.
Mail out your introduction and pledge form six weeks before the drive. This will give businesses time to plan their food drive and the media time to promote it.
Food barrels with the Thanksgiving in July logo should be placed in all the local grocery stores during the entire week of the drive. Our food pantry supplied the barrels.
Reserve a well-known spot for the food collection on the final day, for instance your local grocery store parking lot. This is another opportunity to invite the media. Makes a great photo opportunity.
Media coverage is a must for the first time food drive. Send out multiple press releases as the event unfolds. Locate a scale to weigh the trucks before and after they are loaded with food. We used our local recycling center.
Our food pantry supplied volunteers to unload the trucks at the end of the drive.
There will be newspaper and television coverage at the drop-off sites. Someone should be there to talk to the media and answer questions.
Arrange a follow-up article in your local paper thanking those involved in the drive and report on the amount of food collected. We found that food continued to come in for about a week after the food drive.