Get energized for the MN FoodShare March campaign and help re-stock our shelves!

How to help:

• Donate one of our FINAL 4 picks for March
• Donate items from our suggested food list
• Host a food and FUNd drive: see below for great ideas!
• Make a financial donation

YOUR DONATION IS IMPORTANT IN MARCH!

Donations in March help us restock our inventory! In addition, Minnesota FoodShare’s March Campaign provides a financial gift to participating food shelves. The more food and funds raised March, the more funds The Open Door receives from Minnesota FoodShare! So each donation—large or small— makes a BIG difference right here in your community!

FUN AND EXCITING CAMPAIGN IDEAS:

• TP the VP:
  Is your boss or supervisor out of the office this month? What better way to welcome the big cheese back from a “well-deserved” break than an office filled floor-to-ceiling with toilet paper. If the look on his or her face alone isn’t worth it, toilet paper is the #1 requested item at our pantry.

• Casual Day for Pay
  Why limit casual to just one day a week? Keep the suit and tie at home! Offer casual day for cash. This is an easy way to raise money for the pantry. A simple charge of $5 for a day of casual day can really add up (and really, for those who show up in sweatpants, I think the price could go up).

• CANstruction
  A creative way to motivate and help remind co-workers, employees, clients, customers, etc. to donate food items for the pantry is to create a CANstruction – an object constructed out of cans. Creative CANstruction ideas include (but are certainly not limited to): team mascots, favorite vehicles, famous buildings, structures, sculptures, etc. Add to the display throughout the month, be sure to take photos and donate the non-perishable items to the pantry. Peanut butter works great as a CANstruction material and it is one of our final four picks for March!

• Chili Throwdown
  It is time to settle it. Who in your office truly makes the best chili? Only one way to find out and that is a throwdown. Fire up the crockpots, roll up those sleeves, meet in the kitchen, sell the tastings and voting rights to your coworkers (all proceeds go to the pantry). Finally figure out who truly deserves the bragging rights. Who knows…maybe Bobby Flay will show up!

Flower Fundraisers

• St. Patrick’s Day Green Carnation Fundraiser
  Have the luck of the Irish with your March Campaign! On March 17 sell green carnations and donate the proceeds to the pantry.
• First Day of Spring Fundraiser
  Sell daffodils and small note cards in the office for coworkers to purchase and give to others with a note of appreciation, thanks, a fun joke, to brighten their day, etc. donate the proceeds to the pantry.

• Penny Wars
  Penny Wars can be played between departments (or if your office staff is small, teams). The object is to get as many points as possible during the “war.” The money raised during the penny war can be donated to the pantry. The “war” can run a week or through the whole month. Each department/team  will need a large, enclosed container. A sealed, one gallon plastic milk container, with a slit large enough to insert coins and bills, works quite well. Each container is labeled with the department/team name. The containers should all be placed in a central locations. Participants put their pennies in their department/team container. One point is received for every penny in the container. Participants may put other coins and paper currency into the containers of OTHER departments/teams. Each silver coin or bill reduces the number of points from that container by the amount of the coin. (e.g. a nickel reduces the points by five, a dime by ten, a dollar by 100, etc…) This is where strategy counts. Have fun with it! Containers are emptied and counted daily. The total monetary amount of silver coins and paper currency is deducted from the total number of pennies for the day. The totals for all departments/teams are posted daily to encourage friendly competition. A rotating pennant or cup, given to the leading  team each day, adds to the excitement of the project. The pennant or cup can be retained by the department/team with the most overall points at the end of the penny war.

Other, simple ways to fundraise at the office:

• If you are already having a company event during the drive, ask each participant to bring in canned goods for that event.
• Dedicate your food drive: Select one or two of our most need food items and employ a catchy title for your group and see which group/department can collect the most food. Ex. “Peanut Butter Posse”,
• Ice Cream Social: Buy a gallon of ice cream, whipping cream and sprinkles. Make ice cream sundaes and ask for a free will donation. All proceeds benefit the pantry.
• Request donations when someone is late to a meeting, a cell phone rings during meeting, swears in the office, etc.
• “Items” of the day: Working off of our final 4 picks for March assign an item for each day of the week (or each week of the month), doing this encourages your teams to to work towards the common goal of gifting our pantry with the items we need the most.
• Skip a meal out: Encourage your colleagues to skip one meal out and instead donate the funds saved from that meal back to the pantry. Did you know that for every $1 donated we can procure $10 worth of food?