Host a Food Drive
Get Involved
Food drives are a great way to bring people together to support Ballard Food Bank.
Interested in hosting?
You can run a food drive at your work, school, church, and beyond. Rally your friends and neighbors!
We make it easy to host a food drive
You can get started right away! Just fill out our donation drive form, grab a cardboard box and start asking folks to donate items.
Below are some helpful tools to host your donation drive. This toolkit includes a list of most-needed items, posters, social media posts to help promote your drive, logistics and tips, and a certificate of appreciation for your participants!
When your drive is completed, please let us know when you plan to drop off your donations, so we know to expect you.
Questions? Reach out to Food Recovery Manager, Lena at LenaH@ballardfoodbank.org.
What do we need the most?
Our Most-Needed Items wish lists below are a great guideline for giving year-round. However, this winter we are particularly grateful for donations of the following items:
Canned soup
Mac + cheese
Canned beans
Canned meat - tuna/chicken/salmon
Dry beans/lentils
Oatmeal packets
Dry dog and cat food
Toilet paper
Please note: we are not able to accept clothing items beyond socks, hats, and gloves. Please donate clothing to another organization such as Aurora Commons, Queen Anne Helpline, or Mary’s Place.
PLEDGE TO host aN ANNUAL food drive
Making an annual commitment to collect food donations for Ballard Food Bank helps us plan ahead and meet our growing demand. Email LenaH@ballardfoodbank.org to make your annual food drive pledge!
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Ballard Food Bank has an urgent need for some specific items and welcome our community’s support!
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Read our nutrition guidelines here.
Yes
Non-perishable, unopened cans and packages of food
Fresh produce from your p-patch or garden, including vegetable starts (see note)
Open or unopened packages of cat and dog food
Open or unopened hygiene items like shampoo and lotion
Reusable brown paper bags with handles, heavy plastic bags
No
Clothing (beyond socks, gloves, hats)
Items that are expired
Open containers of food
Homemade items (such as jams and jellies, baked goods)
Anything that requires distribution under the care of a physician
Empty, small medicine or vitamin bottles
Light plastic grocery bags
Cold or ice packs
Notes: Items from home gardens are welcome. We ask that you process and portion it in smaller bags. At this time we don’t have capacity to process items in bulk.
We welcome donations of new gloves, hats, and handwarmers when the weather is cold. Please donate other clothing items and anything in large quantities to other organizations.
Thank you!
Donation Drop-Off Times
Please click here for the current schedule, and reach out to LenaH@ballardfoodbank.org to coordinate your drop-off time. Please do not drop off food donations when we are closed. Thank you for understanding.
You can also donate through our Amazon wishlist.
As always, we are incredibly grateful for the support of our neighbors.