Food Drives

Food Drives have temporarily taken on a new look as we creatively navigate a number of interesting challenges since March 2020. We were forced to evacuate our building in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, due to a sewer disaster that caused extensive damage. Since then our programs and staff have been spread out across several leased spaces, continuing the work that we do as a food bank while also rebuilding our main facility.  This has resulted in much less warehouse storage space than before, so our strategy has been to keep food coming in and moving out quickly. Since big food drives typically bring in several dozen pallets of food all at once, this presents a warehouse storage space challenge (though a great challenge to have!)

In this temporary situation, the most helpful, safe, and effective way you can help is to donate funds that we can utilize to purchase food wholesale, by the pallet, monthly, at a very low cost. We can stretch each dollar quite far and maximize the volume of food we can bring into our warehouse, to respond to rising need for help in Humboldt County in the coming year. We can bring in what we need for each month or so, making efficient use of the storage space we have. 

You can help make sure we have enough food this holiday season. Give today or create your own Virtual Food Drive!

For more on giving food, read on...

Donations go further with a virtual drive! By utilizing the Food for People's wholesale purchasing power and eliminating barrel delivery and pick-up costs, a virtual food drive multiplies your giving.

Here's what you do:

• Click here and select the 'Create my Own Fundraising Page' to create your own virtual food drive. 

• Set a goal, write a little bit about yourself and your efforts.

• Share your link to your friends, family, and more!

You can help your letter carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” in our community by participating in the country’s largest one-day food drive! Saturday, May 13, 2023 letter carriers nationwide will collect donations of non-perishable food as they deliver mail along their postal routes and deliver these donations to local food banks.

It’s easy to participate. Look for the blue donation bags in your mailbox the week leading up to the food drive. Simply place your donations of non-perishable food in the bag and leave it by your mailbox on the second Saturday in May. Your letter carrier will do the rest, picking up donations and delivering them to Food for People and our network of countywide food pantries.

These donations play an important role in supplementing the food distributed by Food for People’s pantries and hunger-relief programs. The timing of this food drive is critical, as many food pantry sites have already distributed donations received during the holidays and many community members are struggling with rising food costs. The Letter Carriers’ Food Drive also helps us and our network of pantries with stocking up just before the beginning of summer break, when many children go without free or reduced-cost meals they are accustomed to receiving during the school year, meaning many families face greater hardship once summer begins.

Community members can help through donations of nutritious food. The foods most needed include canned meats and fish, soups and stews, nut butters, and canned fruits and vegetables. Items that cannot be accepted include rusty or bulging cans, foods that are clearly beyond their expiration date, and home-canned items. Please try to avoid donations in glass or cardboard as they can easily crush when combined with heavier canned items. All food collected stays in the community in which it was donated to help local individuals and families in need. Questions about your community’s participation can be directed to your local postmaster.

Volunteers are needed to help sort and box the food when it is delivered to Food for People on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at First Presbyterian Church 819 15th St in Eureka.

Learn more about the Hunger Fighter Challenge by clicking here.

Enroll your team online!

Check out our Food Drive Tool Kit! It contains a wealth of information about organizing and managing food drives, plus resources we offer to help make your food drive successful.

These items are among some of the essentials needed for a well-balanced diet and are often the most difficult for food-insecure families to afford.

• Canned fruits & vegetable
• Soups & stews
• Nut butters
• Canned fish/meats
• EXTRA: Can openers for those without!

Please no homemade foods or glass

Donations can be dropped off in Eureka at 716 west Cedar St. Monday through Friday from 9am - 4pm. For questions or inquiries please contact Local Food Resources Coordinator Allison Kenney at (707)445-3166 ext. 312 or @email.

Food Drives are part of our Local Food Resources Program. Food donations from the community help us feed an increasing number of people in need throughout Humboldt County. Last fiscal year our community donated close to 150,000 lbs of food through community food drives. An astounding number of organizations, schools, and businesses participated

in community-led food drives, in addition to thousands of generous community members. We accept walk-in donations all year long at our warehouse during business hours, and we are happy to provide a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.

Donated foods help keep our on-site Choice Pantry stocked with foods that meet families’ nutritional needs, and also help supplement our Senior Brown Bag and Homebound Delivery Program bags with nutritious foods for seniors and other adults coping with disability or illness. As we seek to create a healthy and hunger-free community, it is important that we provide our neighbors in need with the most nutritious food possible, such as whole grains, and non-hydrogenated, low-sodium, and low-sugar foods.

Food for People is committed to meeting the nutritional needs of people accessing food bank services by establishing nutrition and safety standards for donated food.  Donors play a big role in increasing access to these nutritious foods. With this in mind there are a few items that we can not accept as donations:

• Soda & other sweetened drinks
• Candy, gum, marshmallows, chips
• Home canned foods
• Rusty or bulging cans
• Foods which have been opened
• Loose foods obtained from “bulk” bins at the store

Oils, spices and other condiments or baking items are accepted as long as they are unopened.

Please try to avoid donating expired goods. The dates on some foods are more like "best by" dates and hold up well over time, however if it's something you would be hesitant to eat, the same might be true for other folks.

To learn more about food drives and food donations, or to plan a food drive of your own, contact Food for People’s Local Food Resources Coordinator at FoodDrives@foodforpeople.org or call (707) 445-3166 ext. 312.