There are several ways you, your organization, or your business can contribute food to the Kansas Food Bank to help those in need across our 85 county service area.

Hosting an online ‘food’ drive is easy and effective!  With our buying power, we are able to stretch your dollar farther and get more food than you can at the local grocery store.

Online fund drives are particularly good for groups or organizations that are not all in the same place, or for those who want to promote their fund drive online through social media.  We can prepare a customized online donation page for your fund drive, complete with any graphics and wording to tie it in with your campaign.

If you’re interested in doing one of these fun online ‘food’ drives, please get in touch with our Community Relations Manager to set one up.  Hosting an online ‘food’ drive is easy and effective!  With our buying power, we are able to stretch your dollar farther and get more food than you can at the local grocery store.

Traditional Food Drives

If you want to hold a food drive to benefit the Kansas Food Bank and want some helpful hints on how to go about it, we’re here to help.

Helpful Ideas

Corporate food drives and employee food drives have always been a tremendous source of support for the Food Bank. We thank you for your efforts and enthusiasm, on behalf of the many Kansas families that benefit from your generous work!

The creativity of our fellow Kansans always inspires us. The ideas for food drives range from: Donating a percentages of sales in a month, BBQ lunches, Dress-down days, Can-stacking contests, Pie-throwing booths, Inter-department competitions, Candy sales, Donating your product in return for canned goods, etc…

Food drive collections added almost 300,000 pounds of food annually to the shelves of the Kansas Food Bank. These food drives are not just a valuable source of nutrition to Kansas families in need, they are a wonderful and visible show of support for the work of the Kansas Food Bank!

What to collect

Canned in light syrup or juice; dried: peaches, pears, oranges, apples, applesauce, fruit cocktail, raisins, pineapple, cranberries (canned/dried), 100% fruit juice

Low sodium canned: corn, peas, carrots, beets, green & wax beans, mixed vegetables, sweet potatoes/yams, tomatoes and tomato sauces, soup

Dairy: nonfat dry milk, evaporated milk, shelf-stable (UHT) milk

Healthful Grains: whole-grain crackers, brown rice, whole grain pasta, oatmeal, whole wheat flour, cornmeal, whole-grain breakfast cereal

Protein Foods: canned or dried beans (kidney, navy, pinto, garbanzo, great northern, black), canned chicken, nuts ( walnuts, pecans, peanuts, almonds), nut butters

What Not to Collect

While we know many people like to make food drives a competition by weight of items collected, there are certain things we kindly request, you do not collect in a food drive.  The main thing to remember with any food drive is the clients we are serving. Food drive product goes back to our pantry agencies who are serving families and individuals.  Please think about that when choosing items to donate.  We cannot accept the following:

• 50 pound bags of sugar, rice or flour
• Bottled water
• Items in glass containers
• Perishable items that require refrigeration

If you have any questions about whether or not a certain item is good to collect, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Resources Available to Collect Your Food

The Kansas Food Bank has these items available to help make your food drive easier, and more successful:

Food Drive Posters & Boxes
(These can be picked up at any time, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm)

Bins and Barrels
For large food drives, we can deliver and pick up.  Please note, we can only do drop off and pickup on
Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoons.

Contact us, and let us know how many of each you need.  We will get them ready for you!   Call (316) 265-3663 and ask for Debi.

Getting the Food to the Food Bank

The Food Bank can pick up food that was collected as part of a food drive at local businesses.  However, we do ask if you can transport what you collected in your personal vehicle to please do so….that will save us time and money and let us utilize our trucks to their maximum potential.  Plus we always like to have photo opportunities when food is brought in!  Contact us at 265-3663 to arrange delivery of your food to the Food Bank at 1919 E Douglas or to request a pick up. Food Bank hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. (map it)  Unfortunately, we do not pick up at personal residences.  We ask that you drop off your personal donation at the food bank.

Healthy Food Donation Policy

Your organization can make a commitment to promoting the health of our neighbors in need by adopting a Healthy Food Donation Policy.  Our partners at Health ICT and the Health & Wellness Coalition of Wichita have teamed up with the Food Bank to help promote healthy choices and a healthy lifestyle for everyone in our community.

Thanks to the hard work of intern Aubrey Swinehart, you can now download a copy of the Healthy Food Donation Policy and adopt it for your organization.

Online Fund Drives in Place of Traditional Food Drives

If you’d rather not collect and haul around food, you can always do an online ‘food’ drive.  With our buying power, we are able to stretch your dollar farther and get more food than you can at the local grocery store.

Online fund drives are particularly good for groups or organizations that are not all in the same place, or for those who want to promote their fund drive online through social media.  We can prepare a customized online donation page for your fund drive, complete with any graphics and wording to tie it in with your campaign.

If you’re interested in doing one of these fun online ‘food’ drives, please get in touch with our Community Relations Manager to set one up.

Businesses Making Donations of Product Inventory

If your business would like to donate product to the Food Bank, please get in touch with our Food Sourcing Manager to discuss the details and logistics of your donation.  We cannot help you to calculate the value of any donations made for tax purposes. However, there is a generous tax credit that may be available to you which you can read more about here (short handout directed at farmers/growers) and here (more in-depth guide).

Tax Benefits for Donating Food

Individuals / Organizations:  We cannot help you to calculate the value of any donations made for tax purposes.  We can, and will happily issue you a receipt for the total pounds of donations made that you can take to your tax preparer who can advise you on how you may be able to value and deduct your donation on your taxes.

Grocery Stores / Food Manufacturers / Farmers:  We cannot help you to calculate the value of any donations made for tax purposes.  However, there is a generous tax credit that may be available to you which you can read more about here (short handout directed at farmers/growers) and here (more in-depth guide).