2nd Harvest Foodbank Of Metrolina
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Host A Food Drive

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina (SHFBM) strives through education, advocacy, and partnerships to eliminate hunger by the solicitation and distribution of food. SHFBM has been in existence since 1981.

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Host a Food Drive Registration Form » |  Read Our Hosting A Food Drive Helpful Tips »

Why Participate in a Food Drive?
Unfortunately, requests for food from the Food Bank consistently exceed our supply. Food drives are an important source of a wide variety of non-perishable items.

Food drives are also a great way to boost morale and teamwork in any organization. They are an easy community project to undertake, and they can truly make a difference in helping your neighbors in need.

Organizing your Food Drive
A successful food drive requires both good organization and promotion. It is helpful to establish a team to plan the details - theme, dates, logistics.

Select a theme that is relevant to the interests of community members and touches peoples’ feelings about the need. Examples include a Peanut Butter Drive, Diapers for Babies, 5-A-Day Canned Fruits and Vegetables.

If possible, kick off your food drive with an event to raise awareness and generate enthusiasm.

Set a goal for your food drive - how many pounds of food or number of filled barrels do you want to collect?

Make sure collection sites are convenient and visible. They can serve as continuing publicity for your campaign.

Use flyers, posters or e-mail to raise community awareness about hunger and your food drive.

Remember to acknowledge contributions. Appreciation can be expressed in a number of ways - breakfast or luncheon to recognize participants for their efforts, prizes, gag gifts, jeans day, hours off for winners.

Incentives and competition between groups of participants can improve results and add interest.

Where does the donated food go?
Second Harvest Food Bank is the regional food distribution center for over 600 non-profit agencies in 19 counties. These agencies include emergency pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and others.

These agencies serve low income people who need food assistance. They include children, the elderly and disabled on fixed incomes, the working poor, people who are unemployed, the homeless, and families in crisis.  
 
How do we get the food?
Most of the food distributed by Second Harvest is donated. Food companies (including manufacturers, processors, and retailers) usually contribute products that are either the result of overproduction, near their code date, discontinued, or not salable for other reasons, but are still safe to eat.

Supermarket chains, such as Harris Teeter, Bi-Lo, Food Lion, Wal-Mart, Target and Lowes Foods, donate a variety of items, including fresh produce, refrigerated and frozen foods and non-food items such as cleaning supplies and hygiene products.  

For More Information Contact:
Toni Morris at (704) 375-9639 EXT. 24,  Fax Number: (704) 805-1744