Organize a
Food Drive
Food drives bring in more than hundreds of thousands of pounds of food a year to the Burlington Food Bank. Together, dozens of communities organize events, gather food, and deliver it to us to distribute among our clients. It’s incredible efforts from members of our community that help us to feed our neighbours.
Register Your Event
Food and fund drives provide the Burlington Food Bank with the necessary resources to sustain our programs and ensure that a supply of emergency food is available to those who may need it.
If you would like to organize a Food Drive on behalf of the Burlington Food Bank, we encourage you to start by registering your event. This helps us to coordinate the physical resources, any food pick-ups needed, and the social media coverage to help you promote your event.
Event Tool Kit
We encourage you to run your own event in support of the Burlington Food Bank, and are happy to provide you with materials to help. Note: we would love to see how you use our logo and other images before you distribute them, so please send any collateral you have created to k.kay@burlingtonfoodbank.ca.
Most Needed Items
The Burlington Food Bank provides fresh and non-perishable food, as well as supplies such as diapers, toiletries, and cleaning supplies to its own clients and to over 20 emergency food programs across the city. This is our current list of most needed items:
Cereal (Hot and Cold)
Large Soup
Juice (Boxes and 1 Litres)
Granola Bars (Peanut Free)
Peanut Butter
Crackers
Canned Fruit
Canned Tomatoes
Canned Vegetables
Canned Meat
Legumes
Pasta Sauce
Personal Hygiene products
How to Run a Successful Community Event
If you’re running a food drive as your event, or as part of your event, there are sections on the Community Event Registration Form where you can let us know your goals, whether you need food collection bins, specially marked boxes or a food pick-up. We can also provide a spokesperson for large corporate events.
1. Decide on a place and time
2. Set goals for your event
- How much are you aiming to collect? Set a goal in pounds, or aim to fill a lobby, lunchroom, office, or corporate vehicle.
- Generating 100% participation is a great goal. Your event can be a team-building activity!
- We recommend sorting food in designated boxes that we provide. This way your donors can see what items are needed most.
- We can only pick up collections greater than 300 pounds (about 30 grocery bags) but we always appreciate collections being dropped off at our warehouse or a local fire station.
3. Promote your community event
- Encourage people to donate our Most Needed Food Items and check expiry dates.
- Tell people about your food drive including your friends, co-workers, neighbours and classmates.
- For corporate events, find out if your company will match food/monetary donations.
- Use facts about the Burlington Food Bank to promote your drive by visiting our ‘Learn’ page.
- Advertise your drive on Instagram, Facebook, or other social media sites. Be sure to tag us in your posts @burlfoodbank.
- Let us know about your event so can post about it on our website and social media.
- Send a description of your event (including who, what, where, when, contact information and a link to your website, if applicable), at least two weeks before the event. We’ll post it on our website and social media.
- Send us photos or videos from a previous event.
- Your description and formatting may be edited for it to fit our requirements.
- Track your success, send out emails and post updates to keep everyone excited and involved.Drop off your food and fund raising donations at:
4. Drop off your donations
Please bring your donations to:
1254 Plains Rd East, Unit 1A
Burlington, ON L7S 1W6
Or, if you requested a specific pick-up date on your registration form, you can expect the truck that day. If there are conflicts, we can make other arrangements. Please note that financial donations CANNOT be dropped at fire halls. Bring them to our Plains Road location.
5. Follow up with your participants and donors
- Let everyone know about your success, either in an email, poster or announcement.
- After we receive your donation, a thank you letter or certificate will be sent to the event organizer. We encourage you to duplicate this letter to send it to your donors.
- Contact the Burlington Post and Burlington Today and encourage them to cover the success of your event.
- The more innovative and creative your event, the more the media will want to cover it.
Other Events
Need some inspiration? Browse our News & Events page for some other fundraising events happening in our community.
Act of Faith Productions Fundraiser
Act of Faith Productions Fundraiser Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8
Request for Proposal: Strategic Planning Consultant
The Burlington Food Bank is seeking proposals from experienced
consultants to facilitate a strategic planning process for our Board of Directors and Staff team.
Complimentary Thanksgiving Dinner
Join the Blk Swan family for a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner on Monday, October 14, as we come together to support families in need and those who don’t have a family table to be at. Let’s share a meal and spread gratitude in our community. Everyone is welcome!
Family Festival & Fill the Truck Food Drive
This Saturday Burlington Helping Burlington has organized a Family Festival & Fill the Truck Food Drive in support of the Burlington Food Bank! Enjoy an afternoon of fun for the whole family with 905 Game Zone, face painting by Veronica Stark, magic shows by Tyler Fergus, and exciting activities with
Thanksgiving Food Drive
Food Drive hosted by Amanda Boland. Donation Drop off at St. Mark Catholic Elementary School.
Canstruction Burlington 2024
Canstruction Burlington is an event that unites high school students, engineering firms, and community sponsors to leverage their skills and creativity for fundraising efforts benefitting the Burlington Food Bank.
