Thank you for your interest in hosting a donation drive! We love donation drives as a way to give back to your community and neighbors while also connecting with the people in your life. Donation drives are a great project for neighborhoods, book clubs, knitting groups, religious organizations, Rotary and more!

How it Works

Before you get started, contact us to discuss the most current needs and get on our calendar. After we connect, you’ll collect items from within your community and then deliver to our teams, who will distribute your donations to residents. We’ve outlined a few helpful tips for hosting your drive that can also help you along the way.

Who Benefits?

While participants in our affordable-housing programs get SNAP benefits, sometimes it can still be difficult to make ends meet. People living in shelters may also need items that are difficult to afford. That’s where you come in!

Tips for Donation Drive Hosts

Plan Ahead

How long are you going to ask your community to donate items? How many items do you hope to donate? Who are you going to ask to help donate?

Take Inspiration from our Wish Lists

This wish list is updated frequently, and we do our best to include specific requests from participants, so please feel free to use it as a guide when asking your communities for donations.

Donate New Items Only, Please

We can only accept new items as donations. Everyone deserves items that are fresh, and consistently receiving hand-me-downs can make folks feel unworthy, which we know isn’t true! If you have questions about a specific item, we’re always happy to chat, so don’t hesitate to get in touch. (Have gently used items? OregonLive created a round-up of places to donate.)

Special Considerations for Food

When making donations of fresh or nonperishable food items, there are a few additional things to consider.

If it’s About to Expire, Let it Retire

If we receive canned or boxed goods that are about to go bad, program participants often can’t get around to eating them in time. We also don’t have a lot of storage space in our facilities, so when we receive nonperishable food items that are about to expire, we prioritize keeping foods that have a longer shelf-life. Please check to make sure that donated items are at least two weeks from their expiration dates before donating!

Consider People’s Dental Needs

Many residents in our programs are elderly, haven’t always had access to good dental care or simply have a harder time chewing their food. When possible, softer items are appreciated. Some coveted items include canned fruit cocktail, peaches, pears, applesauce and pudding, as well as boxed items like instant mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese.

Focus on Priority Foods

Residents often need staples like beans, pastas, peanut butter, tomato sauce, ramen, canned corn and canned tomatoes. Many also do not eat pork products – if you’re donating meat, tuna is a great alternative! When in doubt, we’ll be happy to help you with a list of foods that are in demand at the time of your drive.

Be COVID-Conscious

Collect food items in a space where no one is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or other contagious illnesses.

Thank Your Community!

When your donation drive is over, it’s always nice to tell your pals you love them, because we do, too! Let them know their donations were appreciated by sending a thank-you note, text message, phone call or email, or making a post on your social media. Everyone likes to hear the occasional thank you!

We’d like to thank donors too! Send us a list of those who participated in the group collection, plus their contact information, so we can thank each member of your team. Note: per Oregon tax law, we can only provide a single tax receipt for the total value of the donation.