How to Help : Food Drives

Hunger hurts our family members, neighbors, and friends. We can help. Make an active and hands-on contribution to hunger in eastern Massachusetts by hosting a food drive to benefit The Greater Boston Food Bank. Food drives are a great way to involve and engage people you know in the work to end hunger in our community.

Thank you for your interest in hosting a food drive. There are a number of ways to donate food to the Greater Boston Food Bank. You can collect and donate non-perishable food, host a Virtual Food Drive, or start a Thanksgiving Turkey Team to raise money for the purchase of turkeys during the November holiday season. Please remember that fundraising activities are recommended over food drives because of the logistical challenges of sorting, shipping and distributing collected items. For every dollar donated to GBFB we can distribute $5.25 worth of food to those in need in eastern Massachusetts.

It's easy to run a successful drive. The Greater Boston Food Bank can provide boxes, banners, and flyers to advertise your drive. For drives totaling 400 pounds or more (approximately 20 boxes or bags), GBFB will coordinate a pickup of food from your business. Smaller donations of non-perishable product can be made in person at our warehouse at 70 South Bay Ave., Monday through Friday, from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

Join the effort to end hunger in our communities. The food that's donated is checked for compliance with our food safety guidelines and sorted into approximately 20 food categories. It is then distributed throughout the nine counties of eastern Massachusetts, giving our member hunger-relief agencies the food they need for community members in need.

Food Drive Resources

Virtual Food Drives

A Virtual Food Drive is an easy and fun way to donate to The Greater Boston Food Bank. You'll be able to set up a virtual shopping cart full of food items to donate and your participants can simply visit the virtual drive link to drag and drop items to make their donations. It's a great way to pool donations within a business or among family and friends.

Food Donation Guidelines

Short list of most desired food items:

  • Dairy: Milk - dried, evaporated, and boxed (such as Parmalat)
  • Protein: Beef stew, nuts, peanut butter, beans, and peas (dried or canned), chili, tuna fish, chicken, salmon (canned)
  • Vegetables: Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, vegetables (canned), tomato juice
  • Fruit: Raisins and other dried fruit, applesauce, any canned fruit in its own juice
  • Grains: Crackers, oatmeal, whole grain rice, all types of pasta, ready to eat low sugar/high fiber cereal (Cheerios, Raisin Bran, etc.)

General Guidelines:

  • We accept all non-perishable (not frozen or refrigerated), sealed, unexpired food
  • We also accept unopened toiletries (shampoo, soap, shaving cream, etc.) that should be kept separate from any food donation
  • We prefer non-glass containers for the safety of our volunteers
  • We have some tolerance for expired foods but they must be no more than 3 months past expiration
  • We cannot accept baby food or pet food from a food drive
  • Unfortunately we do not have the resources to pick up donations of less than 400 lbs. (about 20 full copier paper boxes). We are open from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, Monday through Friday for food drop-off.

For questions, contact the Food Drive Coordinator at 617.427.5200 or food_drive@gbfb.org