In the past couple of months, the hubby and I have given a little to the foodbanks here, but I foresee the demand increasing and being prolonged, and would like to do more. What are some ideas for raising money in the time of social/physical distancing that we might use to raise some funds for a good cause?
I'll hit you up in the PMs... but check around you for a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bishops' Storehouse (LDS, Mormon, whatever). They partnered with our local food bank and donate a lot of food goods on the regular. Depending on where you are in the US, it might be a bit of a distance, but a partnership is always worth looking into.
An online live music concert/art event/exercise session with a tip jar, 1-on1 Zoom consulting on whatever expertise you can offer, offer perks for donation tiers (poems, stickers, hot sauce, t-shirts and the sorts), a "challenge" inspired fundraiser (my friend that shaved his 5+ year old beard for covid relief), a bidding war on "high-value" items or experiences, stand outside a supermarket with an obnoxiously long social-distance donation bucket on a stick, put up a massive donation link QR code on your window if it's visible by many from outside, spam email everyone who ever sent you an email (actually don't)
A lot of foodbanks, unfortunately, aren't accepting new manpower right now :( At least down here in Pierce County. If you're existing volunteer I believe you can still sign-up for shifts but new volunteers, not so much at the moment. And down here they're just as short on money as they are on people.
More now than ever. They have not been able to do food drives like in the past and are discouraging people to organize them on their own due to supply chain issues. They are not currently taking new volunteers. They are getting assistance from the National Guard in packing emergency boxes and kits, so they do have labor. They mostly need help with funding to get food through their sources as they are giving out six months worth of stuff in one. (This is the big regional Foodbank type orgs.) The local pantries may be likely to need volunteers and I have reached out to one in my area but our schedules didn’t quite sync up so for me, my best bet to be helpful for the moment is to try to raise funds. If I find myself no longer working I will reach back out to that pantry to see what I can do for them.
Right. Thanks for your reply... I did a bit of my own research after seeing your post, and saw the National Guard here in Washington State is working heavily with the food banks to get things packaged up and distributed. Thanks for bringing it up. I now know how to help my own local food bank better!
The big pantries not only give out food to people themselves but also support the smaller local pantries as well. So my plan is to try to raise funds for the larger organization and if I can, give time or other means to my smaller local pantry, which will also be benefited by any funds I can give to the bigger org.