3 Fun Ways to Get Kids Involved in a Food Drive This Year

It’s that time of year when food banks need more supplies for those in need, especially Thanksgiving meal supplies. Food drives are an easy and impactful way to involve your church and give back to your community!

Here are three fun ways to get kids involved in a food drive.

1. Thankful Bags Food Drive

Go to your local grocery stores and ask for as many paper bags as you can get. Then take them to your children’s ministry and have the kids decorate them with drawings and “thank-you’s” written all over. Contact your local food bank and ask for a list of their most needed items. Print out that list and staple it to the bags (be sure to include when they should be returned). Then have your ministry kids help hand them out after service one weekend. When the donations come back, take them to your food bank.

2. Stuff the Turkey Food Drive

Use painter’s tape to make the shape of a turkey on the floor of your foyer. Let families in your church know you’re trying to stuff the turkey with donations for your local food bank. Send out a list of needed items and ask for them to be turned in on a specific weekend. Create a sign-up and have the kids help collect the donations that weekend so they can help stuff the turkey. When the donations come back, take them to your food bank.

3. Prayer Pumpkin Food Drive

Purchase a bunch of mini/small pumpkins or see if a local farm or pumpkin patch will donate them. Have kids sign up to help you collect money donations for the food bank by selling the pumpkins for donation. (Recommend a $5 or $10 minimum donation depending on your community and what you think would be best.) Give this Prayer Pumpkin handout with each pumpkin sold as a reminder for families to pray for those in need each time they see the pumpkin. Then take all the money donated to your local food bank or purchase the items you’d like to donate and take those items with you.

Looking for more outreach ideas? Check out these posts. You can also find all our Thanksgiving ideas here.