(VolunteerMatch fighting hunger in style)
Food banks are looking for as many sources of canned goods as they can get in this season of high demand.
As a company, you can help these food banks in their effort to eliminate hunger from our communities. In-office food drives are small campaigns that allow your company to work together as one towards a greater cause.
Whether you are an administrator or an employee, you can fight hunger from your work space. Here are some tips for how you can create a successful food drive for your company.
Office participation in a food drive can be hard because everyone has so much to do and little time to do it. Creating a plan is a good thing to do because the more support you can generate initially, the more likely everyone is willing to participate throughout the process. The University of Rhode Island has a great step-by-step outline to help you make your office food drive successful, from beginning to end.
VolunteerMatch has started a fun, in-company competition to donate non-perishable items to our local food banks. We placed two bins in the hall and split the office up into two teams, each team responsible for their own bin. Over the next few weeks, both teams will compete against one another to see who can bring in the most goods for their own team.
This allows for a little dose of friendly competition, and the winner is ultimately the community. If you try this in your office, add an office-wide goal to reach or a prize incentive to the team that wins so everyone has a milestone to aim for.
Regardless of your position within the office, you can spur the fight against hunger within your company. Whether it ranges from sending a personal email to the staff, to walking up and down the halls and asking if people can help support a local food bank, your initiative can prove to be the spark for action within your coworkers.
Propose the idea that if an employee brings in X number of cans of food, they can dress casually for a day. Let the food drive be fun and relaxed, because in the end, the purpose is to bring in the most cans of food possible and enjoy doing it!
Minnesota Food Share has plenty of tips that you can use to create a fun food drive for your company.
Hosting a holiday party to celebrate the final few weeks of being in the office? Set up a donation box near the entrance and ask employees to bring canned goods to the gathering to show their giving spirit.
Leaders lead by example, and what better a time to do that than gaining support for an employee engagement program within the office. Think about asking management to do something everyone can enjoy if the office can reach a preset goal.
For example, if everyone donates 200 cans by the end of the month, the CEO will serenade the office or dress up in an embarrassing outfit. Getting the most visible people in the company to participate can rally the support of the company. The OC Food Bank shares more ideas like this on their webpage.
Click here to find more great ways your company can fight hunger this holiday season.