How to start a Food Bank! Part 2

Part 2!

Another #1 question I get asked, which I usually don't divulge, "Where do get all your donations from?" I'm not going to spell it out and say- these companies donate to me, contact them! But, here is some insights I've found over the past 1 1/2 years:

The computer/ internet is your #1 key.
You will spend a LOT of time on Google, Amazon, Facebook and Etsy.
Pinterest keeps me organized!
 -I have a private Food Pantry board with sub categories like: restaurants to contact, companies to  contact, ideas for items to search for on Amazon/ Etsy, and a lot more!
 -I have a public Pinterest board for the food pantry that I share what local businesses support us, recipe ideas for our most popular donated food items. Like, we get a LOT of donuts, so I shared recipe ideas to use with donuts. We once got several heads of cabbage each week for a month, so I shared my favorite recipe that used cabbage.
I do all my advertising to get people to come pick up from me on Facebook.

How do I contact companies?
Say I want to try to collect cans of Tuna.
I Google search companies that sell Tuna. OR I search for Tuna on Amazon.
I then contact them via their website, their e-mail address or their Facebook page and ask for donations.
-That's it! That's how I get all my stuff!

Okay, okay, here's a little secret I've found.
A) Broaden your horizon! Meaning, don't just focus on food, unless that's all you really want to do. I do: A Toy Drive year round, Back to School Bags, New Mom Kits, Birthday in a Bag, and Blessing Bags for the homeless.

B) Contact companies who ONLY sell on Amazon. Did you know that if they have an item returned to them they legally can not re-sell it, even if it is in perfect condition if someone says there is something wrong with it? Well, what do they do with all those items? DONATE! I have 1 company that literally sends me every item that is returned to them! 90% of the time the items are just fine, people are just picky.  The other 10% of the time the items seem pretty fixable! I have received several chalkboard that are "broken" and they simply just need the edges screwed together where the company sells them just glued and it falls apart!

Use resources you have! Several years ago I ran a company that sold vinyl decals and lettering. Thus, I have the ability to cut out vinyl and a heat press machine to make shirts! It dawned on me recently that I can use this with the food pantry. I could make shirts for our volunteers to wear with our logo on them. I contact shirt companies to get blank shirts and vinyl companies to get the heat press vinyl to use for the logos.

I don't just get items to hand out! I have also gotten supplies I need for the food pantry donated! I needed a bag sealer to package bakery items I go. I contacted easily 8 to 10 companies and 1 said yes! They simply asked that once I got it I left them a review on their Google page! Done!

Reach out in your community!
90% of the food on our shelves come from people in our town donating them to me!
I also received a free refrigerator! Now, it was old and barely working, but they posted it for free on Facebook and I reached out to them and told them how I needed one for the food pantry I can. Not only did they give it to me, they delivered it as well. Then... my husband unplugged it while it was full of food and didn't tell me for 2 days (we are remodeling the food pantry so we had to move it out of the way). Needless to say I'm back in the market for a new fridge! :(

Reach out to other charities/ food banks!
I currently have an overstock of tuna! My husband and I took several cases to the state run food bank in our town. I recently met a lady who's husband is the pick up driver for a churches food bank. She told me that they usually have a surplus of bread that he can drop off to me!