Hunger isn’t something that people should struggle with or be judged for. We are partnering with Ozarks Food Harvest to help our community with the massive food insecurity issues that continue to grow during the pandemic.Mack & Allison Musgrave, Owners of The Sandwich Scene
When and where is your drive going to be? Online or in person? Will it be one day? Two weeks? Ongoing? Consider an easy to get to location with good visibility for collecting donations or host an online fundraiser at mightycause.com
What will you collect? Food, funds or both? How will you transport the donations to The Food Bank? Ozarks Food Harvest has food & fund drive supplies that can be checked out by hosts.
How will you inform people and get them to donate? Promotion of your drive is key to the success. The Food Bank has a variety of materials available to help promote your drive.
Here are three great ways to fundraise through cause marketing:
Choose an item in your store to benefit Ozarks Food Harvest. For example, $1 from every apple spice muffin purchased will be donated to Ozarks Food Harvest.
Accept donations at checkout. Suggesting and accepting donations of any amount at checkout can create a huge impact. Even rounding totals up to the nearest dollar can add up surprisingly quickly. Ozarks Food Harvest can provide 4 meals with $1, that’s 1 meal for every $0.25!
Offer incentives to your customers if they donate. Coupons for their next visit or a free item when they donate will encourage customers to join you in the fight against hunger!
Promotion of your drive is key to its success and The Food Bank has these tools to help you promote your drive along with the supplies to help you make meals happen!
There are several annual opportunities that you can be a part of at The Food Bank! Contact us to see how you can get involved throughout the year.
Seeds of Harvest, January-May
Summer Harvest, Memorial Day-Labor Day
Hunger Action Month, September
Holiday Helpings, November-December
Reverse Advent, December
Next Steps
Not feeling ready to register quite yet? Fill out our inquiry form and a staff member will help you get started.
Ready to register your drive? Use the form below.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I host a fund and food drive? Drives can be as simple or as complex as you want, it all depends on what works for you and your donors. Check out this quick guide to get started and visit our Pinterest page for more fun and engaging ideas.
Does The Food Bank provide any supplies for a food and/or fund drive? Yes! We have fund receptacles, barrels for collecting food, boxes, posters, flyers and other materials available to help you promote your
drive online or in person. View available supplies in the Toolkits & Supplies section above. Supplies must be checked out and can be reserved by submitting a Drive Registration form.
Do I have to register my drive? It is helpful to know when and where drives are happening in the community. By registering your drive you are letting The Food Bank know when we can anticipate your donation and also providing an opportunity to promote your drive, if appropriate. The only way to check out supplies is by filling out the registration form found here.
I filled out the registration form, what happens next? A staff member at The Food Bank will review your registration and prepare supplies for pick up on the date requested. Please allow at least 24 between registration and requested pick up. If the staff have any questions they will contact you.
We didn’t collect as much as we wanted, can we extend our drive? Absolutely! Just give us a heads up by calling or emailing.
What happens after my drive is over? After we receive your drive you will receive a thank you letter/tax receipt with the total impact of your drive. The food donations are inventoried, sorted and inspected for food safety and then delivered to partner agencies for those experiencing hunger!
What should we collect? The name says it all: food and funds! We suggest that all drives include a fundraising component if possible. Funds help us keep our trucks on the road delivering food to those in need. They also help purchase millions of pounds of food throughout the year when donations decline or for special programs like the Weekend Backpack Program which require certain nutritional standards. Download this flier of our Most Needed Items to see what non-perishable food items we have the most requests for. We also ask that no glass jars be placed in food drive barrels or boxes.
How do we get people to participate? Promotion is key to the success of your drive. Be sure to share your drive on as many social media channels as possible, send texts, messages and emails to friends and colleagues not only asking them to participate but telling them why they should: 1 in 5 children and 1 in 6 adults in the Ozarks are facing hunger, their donation could be the difference in them having a meal at home or not.
Will The Food Bank pick up our drive? Transportation is a significant cost for the Food Bank and it is challenging to arrange food drive pick-ups around our daily scheduled deliveries to pantries. We encourage you to bring your drive to us.
The Food Bank is located at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave. Springfield, MO 65801.
Donations can be brought to the east side of the warehouse.
Monday-Thursday, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Fridays, 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Closed on holidays
A lot of times we don’t have stuff to put a meal together. If it was not for the pantry, we would not eat at all.
