Why partner with the Wakefield Food Pantry?
Partnering with the Wakefield Food Pantry (WFP) will benefit your organization by:
- Engaging your members in the work of a respected, established local non-profit delivering life-saving support.
- Strengthening your organization’s mission, values, and brand.
- Building team pride and cohesion through shared activities that support food security in the community.
- Strengthening ties with the broader Wakefield community.
- Generating recognition for your collaboration and support in WFP newsletters, announcements, and on the website.
Partnering with the Wakefield Food Pantry (WFP) will benefit our local community by:
- Assist WFP in providing a variety of food, household necessities, and support to those in need.
- Enabling better coordination of town resources.
- Building awareness of food insecurity.
- Providing $4 worth of food from the Greater Boston Food Bank for every $1 donated.
Some Ways to Partner with the Wakefield Food Pantry (WFP)
Activities (for Organizations or Community Groups)
- Organize a cooking class – Local chef donates time, participants pay entry fee to raise funds.
- Coordinate recipe and meal kit collections – Groups run food drives to collect specific items and put the meal kits together for our guests to take home and make.
- Design a building project or competition with cans and boxes of food to raise funds. Funds and food are then donated to the WFP.
- Design a giving-tree style fundraiser. Participants choose or draw a specific need (type of food, cost of week’s groceries, etc.) and fulfill it.
- Host a ‘Fill a Bag’ fundraiser: raise the cost of a bag of groceries.
- Sponsor specific food items (e.g. produce for a month, etc).
- Collect and put together bags for specific needs (e.g. first aid products, spices, baking items, etc.).
- Host a WFP food collection box during specific periods or year-round.
- Sponsor a community garden to grow fresh produce for WFP. Ideas can include:
- Purchase, pack up and distribute “Garden Kits”;
- Supply nutritious produce seeds to students and others who plant and raise them, donating the produce when grown;
- Designate open space for a garden.
- Organize a food drive in your neighborhood, at your place of worship, your office, gym or wherever. Make it an annual event.
- Organize an art fundraiser. Solicit donations of ceramics, artwork, handmade cards, etc., and sell them to benefit WFP.
- Collaborate on the design and execution of a house or garden tour benefit.
- Coordinate and execute a road race, golf or mini golf tournament.
- Host an event at your business or organization that benefits the WFP.
- Host a WFP speaker at a special meal or event to highlight food insecurity in the area. Use the event to kick-start a special drive.
- Help with unloading and sorting during major food drives.
Contributions (for Workplaces, Organizations, and Individuals)
- Use your personal or organization’s social media to host a virtual food drive to raise funds. Set a goal and spread the word.
- Designate the WFP as a beneficiary through a retail partnership. Ideas include:
- ‘round up to the nearest dollar’ donations,
- create a special WFP dish on a restaurant menu,
- designate a percentage of the final bill,
- offer a matching contribution per donation,
- offer a specific WFP item for sale, etc.
- Designate WFP as an employee match organization.
- Designate a day or week of giving (i.e. organization announces their goal for WFP).
- Include WFP links in internal communications.
- Underwrite the cost of annual or specific mailings.
- Sponsor in-kind donation of expertise (e.g. design, social media, marketing materials, etc.).
- Underwrite specific improvements or investments (e.g. shelving, refrigeration, storage, etc.).
- Work with WFP to schedule tours of the pantry (as an introduction, bonus or part of another effort).
- Sponsor a WFP program – Donate resources to fund a program such as Kids First, Senior Mobile Pantries, School Partnership, etc.