Food Drives

[Captain Smollett]

Dear SailFar Crew,

As some of you may recall, one of my "things" is Food Drives.  Several years ago, I organized an event for my sailing club called "Ship Food to the Hungry."  Here's how it worked:

• All members were encouraged to collect food items (we used a seafood type theme - canned tuna, salmon, etc) at home, work church, etc for ONE MONTH before the date of the drive.
• We also put collection boxes at various locations around the lake - marinas, boat repair shops, etc.
• We put up signs at EVERY ramp on the lake
• On the day of the drive, we stationed volunteers at several key ramps with collection boxes.  We used our boats to get there.
• We loaded all food collected (that day and previously) onto our boats to "Ship" the food to the final collection point.

The idea was to have a line a boats sailing across the lake, each 'loaded' with canned food donations for the local Food Bank.  Our first attempt was fairly successful - we collected enough food and cash equivalent to feed 97 people for a week.  (We tried again the next year, but it was scheduled within days of Katrina hitting LA ... so, rightfully, most giving was for there).

At the time, I tried to get other area sailing and boating clubs to do the same thing on the same day - make a state-wide event out of it.  That did not catch on.

But the other day I got to thinking, why not try something similar with the SailFar group?  We could organize an event, somehow, that spans the entire nation (and even crosses international borders). Each person/group would be collecting for their own local Food Bank.

From my experience with these types of things, if there is an interest in doing something this summer, we should start planning/organizing now.  I am seeking input on the following points (all opinions welcome - I am seeking info, not unquestioned support):

• Are you interested in participating in something like this?  (PM me if you don't want to reply publicly..all PM answers held strictly confidential).
• What do you think of the name of this event?  Would you suggest a different name?  The original idea was to have it be a sailing event, not just a bunch of sailors collecting food.
• What do you think of the idea of it being a sailing event vs. just a bunch of folks collecting food donations?
• Would you prefer working for a different charitable cause....Leukemia Society, Cancer Society, Heart Association, other? (I have researched trying to get involved with the ALS Sail America events ... are they even doing these anymore?).
• What would be the best time of year to do it at your location?
• Do you think you could get others involved, perhaps at your marina?
• Should we try to take 'blind' cash donations, perhaps with something like a PayPal account and publicizing on the 'Net? (keep in mind that due to their non-profit status and how they work with wholesalers, the food banks get an enormous return on cash donations - it varies, but I've seen it be as high as 11 lbs of food for each $1).  Actually, we could put a 'Donate To' link on the site and leave it indefinitely ... maybe transfering from the PayPal account to the Food Bank once a month or some such.  Just a thought.
• Would you be willing to help with the organization/planning?

Thanks for your time.

[AdriftAtSea]

The only problem I see with the "blind" cash donations, is that most people making sizeable donations would want a receipt for their taxes...so there would have to be some way of documenting it for those people.

[Captain Smollett]

That's not a problem.  There are thousands of legit cash donatable charities with web access; their receipt is their credit card statement, and we could even have a receipt page displayed from the payment gateway.

What I meant by "blind" in this case was more "automatic;' I meant it that rather than each of us specifically getting and holding (for a time) the cash, it was set up for folks to do on their own via a web based Payment Gateway.  Blind from our perspective, not theirs.

Hope this helps clarify what I meant.

[CapnK]

Will give this some thought, John...

[s/v Faith]

John,

  I think it is a great concept.  Our YC has discussed a couple of 'outreach' type of activities in the past but we have not really moved forward with any of them.

  We are talking about sponsoring a family this year.  The outfit that runs the program is a good one, but the commitment is for all food and needs for the holidays... maybe more then our group is up for.

  It might be a little late to frame something like this for Christmas, but I really like the idea.... especially as something that a group of people could just get together and do.