Holiday food drive playbook for a PTA or PTO

Steps

1. T-5 weeks: get board and principal approval, and check district rules on collections and class competitions.
2. Find your local food bank with Feeding America's locator and ask what items they need, what they can't accept (often glass, opened or expired items), and how they want donations delivered.
3. T-3 weeks: set dates (two weeks is plenty), recruit 4–6 volunteers, and get boxes or bins labeled by item type.
4. T-2 weeks: announce with the food bank's most-needed list in the newsletter and school app; post one reminder a week.
5. During the drive: empty bins daily, check dates, and store items somewhere the custodian agrees to.
6. Delivery: drop off on the schedule the food bank gave you and get a receipt or weight total.
7. After: share the total and thank families, staff and the food bank.

Keep it simple

• Optional: let families donate money directly to the food bank through its own website instead of collecting cash at school.
• If you run a class challenge, keep the prize small and non-food (for example, extra recess, with the principal's OK).
• Don't ask students to identify families who need help; privacy comes first.

Sources

Feeding America: Find your local food bank — https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

Related

• Giving Tuesday playbook for a PTA or PTO
• Volunteer request email that gets replies
• Post-fundraiser thank-you note