Clemmons Food Pantry Collect Food & Donations

If you have personal food to donate to the Pantry, you can bring it by during our store hours (listed above), or on Monday-Friday from 10:00 AM to Noon. We hope you’ll also consider organizing a food and fund drive in your neighborhood or business to expand your impact on hunger in our community. You will not only help by collecting much-needed food, but also raise awareness for the problem of hunger in our community. We appreciate your support and hope you’ll find this experience rewarding and fun.

Below are answers to questions you may have as you get started.

Why should I conduct a food and fund drive?

Help your hungry neighbors. Hunger is a growing problem but it can be solved. The Clemmons Food Pantry receives more than 85,000 pounds of product from food and fund drives each year. Your efforts will help us meet increased demand for nutritious non-perishable foods.

Take an active role to end hunger. Everyone has a role in ending hunger. By working with the Clemmons Food Pantry, the food and funds you donate will be distributed to your community and throughout Forsyth County.

Join great company. Each year, dozens of companies, associations, civic groups, and individuals conduct food and fund drives to benefit the Clemmons Food Pantry. Food and fund drives are a great way to build team spirit and community goodwill.

Is running a food drive difficult?

No. With a little planning, running a food and fund drive can be easy. Just follow the steps listed below. If you are running a drive at your business, the Clemmons Food Pantry can provide collection containers. We can also provide you with a report on how much food you collected and the impact it will have on our neighbors in need.

Why should I collect funds as part of my food drive?

In addition to food and grocery products, money raised through your food drive enables the Clemmons Food Pantry to purchase food from Second Harvest Food Bank and other sources at a greatly reduced rate. We encourage adding a fund drive component to your food drive for individuals and organizations who are interested in this effective and cost-efficient way to fight hunger. All donations are tax-deductible and a gift receipt will be provided if we have the donor’s name, address and amount contributed.

What types of food should I ask people to donate?

Although cash donations are the easiest and most efficient way to donate, we appreciate each and every food donation as well. Our most needed items are:

Canned Meat (tuna, beef stew, chili with meat)
Canned Fruit
Bisquick/Biscuit Mix
Dry White Rice
Dry Beans (pinto, lima, black or northern)
Canned Spaghetti Sauce
2 lb bags of Sugar or Flour
Canned beans (pork & beans, black beans, refried beans)

There are some rules and recommendations about donating non-perishable food that we ask you to follow.

We accept all non-perishable (not frozen or refrigerated), sealed, unexpired food.
We accept unopened toiletries (shampoo, soap, shaving cream, etc.) that should be kept separate from any food donation.
We prefer to receive non-glass containers for the safety of our volunteers.
Baby food can be accepted, but only in plastic containers.
Pet supplies and pet food cannot be accepted.

What happens to the food I donate?

Once the food you collect is delivered to the Clemmons Food Pantry, our volunteers will check it, sort and stock it on our shelves for client shopping.

A successful food and fund drive is easy – just follow the steps below. Click on each step for more details and links to helpful documents you can print. If you have questions at any time, just give us a call – we’re here to help.

Neighborhood Food Drive

Steps to success

Assemble Your Team

Choose Your Collection Date

Promote Your Drive

Make a Reminder Call

Collect The Donations

It’s good to have a team of two or three – it’s not required but will make it more fun. This is a great project to do as a family!

Saturdays tend to work well for most people – those collecting and those donating. Choose a day when you can allow approximately 3 hours for collection. Collection time varies depending on the size of your neighborhood.

Drop off a Neighborhood Food Drive Flyer (PDF file) to each house 7-10 days before the collection date for neighborhood drives. This is critical to success. Make sure to place the fliers in a place they’ll get noticed but won’t blow away. If you have a neighborhood association you could also ask to have the food drive announced via the HOA newsletter or email.

Call your neighbors the day before collection to remind them to set food items on the porch. This simple step significantly increases donations. Busy schedules make it easy to forget and a reminder call is much appreciated.

Have your team collect food items from porches and leave a Food Drive Thank You Note (PDF file) for your neighbors who have left food on their doorstop. The Thank You flier includes a receipt that can be used for tax purposes.

Workplace Food Drive

Steps to Success

Assemble Your Team

Set a Deadline for Donations

Promote Your Drive

Make a Reminder Visit

Collect The Donations

It’s good to have a team of two or three – it’s not required but will make it more fun. This is a great team building project for your work group!

Set a deadline for donations. A time frame of 2-3 weeks works well.

Post a Workplace Food Drive Flyer in prominent places – the break room, the bulletin board and employee entrances. Also announce your drive in any electronic media for your company. Designate one or more convenient collection spots and leave a stack of Food Drive Thank You Receipts.

Take a few minutes to talk to your co-workers and remind them about the deadline or send an email reminder.

Collect the food items from your designated areas and make plans to deliver the food to the Pantry.

Collected food should be dropped at the Pantry store Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – Noon, or during regular store hours. You can also schedule to drop off larger donation by emailing us.

Thank you for your support of the Clemmons Food Pantry. If you have any questions please email or call us at (336) 331-3432.