Food bank donations

[Mrs. Dinero]

Both kids are participating in a food drive for their schools this week. I'm tempted to call the schools and ask why they aren't collecting money instead. Purchasing power is greater when Food Bank buys in bulk and they can purchase what is needed, simplifies delivery, eliminates manpower and vehicle emissions.

Call or just go buy the pb and tuna?

[azucena]

Just a thought but it's more tangible to the kids to carry in cans than to hand over money. Teaching charitable giving to our young ones is important.

[zibazinski]

Have them start an advent box. Every day of advent put a food product in

[alabamagal]

I have read that money donations are much better bang for the buck (literally) than food drive.  It is just a logistical issue to sort through all the cans, and then get them to the correct place.  But I think people feel much better about giving food, because it is less likely to go the wrong people.

We just had one last week at work.  It was good timing for me because my DD and her DH had just left for Germany two weeks before.  Gave me time to clean out my cabinets of all of the stuff that DH and I don't eat - and a lot of it was good stuff really.  It was either give away or go to waste.

[Mrs. Dinero]

That is a good point but these are high school students at a private school. Being charitable is taught everyday.

[MJ2.0]

some thoughts:

sometimes just giving money disconnects people from the impact of their donation.  Also, if you give food instead of money, you know what's happening to that food - you don't know what's happening to that money.  Having them do it all means them paying for gas, vehicle maintenance, and possibly adding some paid staff to organize the logistics of buying and truck driving.

[Deleted]

I would call, not only is it a teachable moment in giving but also how to conserve and reduce waste.

If you want to double down on the giving lesson take them to where the food is given out and potentially volunteer.

[NancysSummerSip]

I see it both ways. The kids are going to school anyway, so presumably they can take the food to school with them, right? Or does this require a special trip? If the school is just a collection point and they are turning over the goods to a food bank, I understand why they are asking for canned donations. But if the school IS the food bank (and in some very impoverished areas of this country, that's the case), then I see your reasoning.

I contribute food and money. A friend's church has a food bank for its parishioners; the reason is that sometimes the need is immediate and the food is there on the shelves when they need it right away. The county food bank prefers monetary donations, because given their size and buying power, they do buy in enormous amounts. The county food bank also has only a few paid staffers, so they cannot spare them to accept food donations; the staff does administrative work while volunteers sort, pack and drive the trucks. But volunteers are not a steady and dependable group (I think the courts still assign people there as community service in lieu of jail time).

[MJ2.0]

Nov 15, 2017 14:44:44 GMT -5 Mrs. Dinero said:

That is a good point but these are high school students at a private school. Being charitable is taught everyday.

I'm not sure why I should assume that being at a private high school and charitable giving go hand in hand....

[Mrs. Dinero]

I think it would be more impactful for the students to be at food bank the day their donated money's bulk buy is delivered. They can unload the pallets and stock the shelves.

[azucena]

Nov 15, 2017 14:50:53 GMT -5 Mrs. Dinero said:

I think it would be more impactful for the students to be at food bank the day their donated money's bulk buy is delivered. They can unload the pallets and stock the shelves.

Yes this makes sense for high school students.  My kids are elementary so my comment was more about that age.

[Mrs. Dinero]

Ok, more specifically it's a Catholic high school. Would you assume charitable giving is taught then?

Read any private high school's mission statement and you'll see service to others.

[saveinla]

We have a food drive at work this week, but it is through our local shelter and they have  a specific list of things.

[Mrs. Dinero]

Same here, DD class is to bring pb and DS class is to bring either can chicken or tuna.

Just found out about it so I'll need to go buy items. It'll be a special trip and I won't get best pricing. Hence my annoyance at the whole thing.

[MJ2.0]

I've never read private school charters.  IMO charitable giving should be taught in all schools (unless the actual school is receiving charity) and at home.  I guess that's not the case?

But anyway, it would definitely be good to have your kids volunteer.

[Deleted]

As a public school teacher, I would have to request the physical cans than the money.  All money must be receipted and turned in through the office.  There is a host of other rules associated with the collection of money.  No one wants to go there.

Various clubs at our school sponsor children at Christmas.  The clubs are not allowed to collect money and buy presents.  The kids must buy the presents on the lists and turn them in.  Similarly, we sponsored a "gift card" drive for a high school that we adopted that was affected by one of the hurricanes.  Only gift cards were accepted; no cash was allowed.

Also, money run through the school is considered the school's money and must conform to state laws.  That includes state bid laws. That's why Booster clubs usually don't run directly through the school.

In other words, it is not always as simple as it might seem.

I know Mrs. Dinero 's children go to private school, but there still may be rules in place concerning the collection of money.  That might be particularly true when a large organization, such as the diocese, provides official oversight.

[Mrs. Dinero]

I'm 100% for contributing. It's the not being efficient that's annoying for me. The actual working and seeing food bank first hand I think would be more impactful than any amount of food carried in by the student.

Didn't think about that SouthernSusana. The food bank in town has an option to set up a link for each organization. It's very slick. You can enter your donation amount and it'll virtually show you what your amount is providing. It's pretty neat.

[Deleted]

Our food drives, whether through the school or the Boy Scouts all say they accept non-perishable foods or checks made out directly to the food shelf.  No cash to the kids for the school/scouts to deal with. 

eta:  Also, with the two food drives we do, the kids ARE actually working.  They're going door to door collecting food people left out and taking it back to the food shelf to be weighed (we judge how we're doing vs. previous years, by pounds of food collected), then they help to stock the shelves. 

[NastyWoman]

A lot of grocery stores get into the act around here as well with Second Harvest barrels at the entrance of the store. Often the "GO" part of BOGO is deposited in there by peopleThey are very successful and emptied (swapped out?) daily.

It used to be this would only be around the holidays but this summer they also had them for lunch items such as P&B. Since schools are out kids don't get free lunches and they wanted to alleviate that. I dislike the texture of peanut butter and won't eat it but you would know that if you looked at my receipts from this summer...

[NoNamePerson]

Nov 15, 2017 15:07:09 GMT -5 Mrs. Dinero said:

Same here, DD class is to bring pb and DS class is to bring either can chicken or tuna.

Just found out about it so I'll need to go buy items. It'll be a special trip and I won't get best pricing. Hence my annoyance at the whole thing.

Consider your side trip to the store and paying extra for the food your personal charitable contribution to those needy people. You contributed indirectly.

[zibazinski]

I do both. DH's temple takes money and there are other places like the hospital that take food.

[milee]

My youngest loves when his school has the canned food drives - he uses them as a chance to clear our shelves of food he doesn't like to eat.     Like the canned anchovies, hearts of palm... you know, the inexpensive things and crowd pleasers that I'm sure homeless people LOVE to receive.  

I discovered this by accident once and now I search his bag before I let him take that stuff.  

[irishpad]

Nov 15, 2017 17:17:52 GMT -5 milee said:

My youngest loves when his school has the canned food drives - he uses them as a chance to clear our shelves of food he doesn't like to eat.     Like the canned anchovies, hearts of palm... you know, the inexpensive things and crowd pleasers that I'm sure homeless people LOVE to receive.  

I discovered this by accident once and now I search his bag before I let him take that stuff.  

I laughed hard reading about your enterprising youngest child!   Smart kid!  Your a good mom.  

[Tiny]

I think the purpose of the food drive is to "reclaim" food - items in everyday people's pantries/storage that won't get used but are still good.

It's not about BUYING new food and giving it to the drive - or having the Food Bank BUY food.

this is the opportunity to go thru your pantry/storage and take inventory - it's time to clear out all the stuff you  have on hand but won't be using or is getting near it's 'best by date'. 


FWIW: there's a huge Food Depository in my city that DOES get trailers full of "food" from stores/manufacturers. But, they still encourage "food drives" - what better way to NOT waste useable food that people might throw away (or just keep until it goes bad becasue they won't get around to using it).

Americans supposedly throw away a scary amount of food each year...
 

[Tiny]

Nov 15, 2017 15:07:09 GMT -5 Mrs. Dinero said:

Same here, DD class is to bring pb and DS class is to bring either can chicken or tuna.

Just found out about it so I'll need to go buy items. It'll be a special trip and I won't get best pricing. Hence my annoyance at the whole thing.

This is weird to me... that they have to bring specific stuff.   I've seen food drives with a 'suggested list' - in fact my office building is having a food drive and has a list of things, but really they will take anything that isn't open or in a glass container.

[dee27]

I donate to the local food bank that services several towns and cities in the area. The FB does get the most bang for the buck when it buys in bulk, and a few times per  year, local companies will match your donation and it does get a good response during these campaigns. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, charities, schools, large grocery chains and churches often ask for specific donations like canned sweet potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, jarred gravy, bagged stuffing mix and pie filling to augment the free turkeys delivered to eligible families. 

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2017 15:16:02 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Our food drives, whether through the school or the Boy Scouts all say they accept non-perishable foods or checks made out directly to the food shelf.  No cash to the kids for the school/scouts to deal with. 

eta:  Also, with the two food drives we do, the kids ARE actually working.  They're going door to door collecting food people left out and taking it back to the food shelf to be weighed (we judge how we're doing vs. previous years, by pounds of food collected), then they help to stock the shelves. 

You could probably do this at our school as well.  I mean, write checks directly to the food bank.  But you couldn't send cash or make out a check to the school.

[chapeau]

Could some of these kids be on scholarship? A cash donation might not be something they or their parents can manage, but a can or two from the pantry won’t be the end of the world.

I went to a private catholic school back when, and several of my classmates were on scholarship. We figured it out real fast when they “forgot” their $1 to wear jeans (instead of the grey polyester uniform) more than once.

[giramomma]

Nov 15, 2017 14:50:53 GMT -5 Mrs. Dinero said:

I think it would be more impactful for the students to be at food bank the day their donated money's bulk buy is delivered. They can unload the pallets and stock the shelves.

You are assuming, though, that all bulk food is in containers.

DS and I volunteer at second harvest. We've yet to unload palates and stock shelves and deal with cans..

Rather, we have spent our time repackaging food. All the bulk food we've seen thus far has been in containers that are likely 64 cubic feet. Think onions, potatoes...and our favorite <not> thawing ham parts.

We've also sorted through food donated at the end of famer's markets to see what's good and what's spoiled/rotten and get those items packed up in boxes that are then given to families...

Also, this time of year, places are overflowing with volunteers. If your school really wanted to do something impactful, they'd do a food collection in April/May or volunteer in September/October.

ETA: Another impactful thing is to have kids work in a community garden and pick the fresh produce that will end up feeding others.. My cub scouts talked about that for a couple of years. (Of course, they had fun seeing who could throw rotten tomatoes the furtherest..)

[lynnerself]

We donate cash monthly to our local food bank. (Kids are grown and we are retired, so no pressure for food drives anymore.) We have the monthly donation set up on auto pay. I figure the food bank likes a predictable amount to budget with.