"Preach
     the Gospel
       always, and
    when necessary
    use words"
      - St Francis of Assisi -
Social Ministry
Past Food Drives
Past Food Drives




 
 
 
 
 
PAST
Food Drive
PHOTOS & Statistics 
all prior years at: 
/fooddrivephotos/
Food Drive Coordinators' To-Do Checklist
for the November & the Winter:Feb/March Food Drives with
Delivery to pantries in Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti. 

See PHOTOS & Statistics from PAST Food Drives!!
Thanks to our
PAST November Coordinators & PAST Winter Coordinators:

Winter  2011: Could be You?
Nov. 2010: Mary Hayden & Chris Mollo & Mike Nazareth 
Winter 2010: Mike Nazareth & Mary Hayden & Chris Kempton
Nov. 2009: Mary Hayden & Roger Parlett 
Winter 2009:  Zach Weathers.
Nov. 2008: Chris Wyzlic & Roger Parlett 
Winter 2008:  Jody O'Brien-Jackson & Laura Lavender & Steve Lavender.
Nov. 2007: Katie Jackel & Roger & Chris Parlett 
Winter 2007:  Kathleen Ritenour & Susan Wawrzaszek;
Nov. 2006: Sue Wawrzaszek, Mary Clair Wissman, Katie Jackel, Ed & Sharon Wright
Winter 2006:  Michelle Eiden & Susan Wawrzaszek;
Nov. 2005: Mary Clair Wissman, Michelle Eiden, & Sue Wawrzaszek
Winter 2005: Mary Clair Wissman;
Nov. 2004: Mary Clair Wissman
Winter 2004: Sara Maxam, Marty Javornisky & Juliet Bogan;
Nov. 2003: Patricia Hoffman, Marty Javornisky
Winter 2003: Marty Javornisky;
Nov. 2002: Patricia Hoffman
Winter 2002: Marty Javornisky;
Nov. 2001: Scott Wright & Patricia Hoffman
Winter 2001: Jeanne & Larry Horvath;
December 2000: Scott Wright;
Nov. 2000: Scott Wright;
Coordinate the Food Drive

St. Francis Parish is preparing to provide some of the needy in our area with groceries in 

Empty grocery bags with a shopping list attached will be distributed on one weekend then the following weekend the bags will be returned with groceries that will be delivered to area food pantries.  (It's about 500-800-bags of groceries.)

This is a short-term one-time commitment to serve our community.  We need you, or your group to help.  (See the Coordinator's checklist-of-things-to-do below.)
Questions Contact: the Parish Social Ministry Office,  .. 

Food Drive checklist - Organizations
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Before you begin, please read over the online sign-up form for the

Please help the Parish Social Ministry Director, Scott Wright, with proof reading it & keeping it up-to-date.   Information posted includes: the store(s) that donate the empty bags, names of organizations whose clients get the food, the food lists, volunteer times, etc.

Publicize the need for coordinator.  One coordinator person must keep track of the details of who & what is already committed or needed. 

"Sign-ups" are e-mailed through the web page.  Decide who is responsible to pay attention to the sign-ups & any questions that may arise from participants.  Unless the participant has a question and requests a response, we need NOT respond to the sign-ups.  The volunteers that sign-up are told, "We look forward to seeing you at your committed sign-up time.  We will not contact you before the event unless there is some change in our needs."   All sign-up sheets that are returned to the office by fax and/or in the collection basket at St. Francis are given to an evening receptionist to be typed into the Web form sign-up, which is automatically submitted to the e-mail address of the person responsible. 

Six or Seven Weeks Before Begin:
1. Contact organizations (see list of suggested organizations below) to:
     A. Find out what sort of food/items the organization or their clients need.  (Up-date the shopping lists if needed.)
     B. Find out how much the organization can accept or how many bags can fit into their pantry & record this infomation on the chart # 9 in this list below; and/or here is the Excel Spreadsheet list of Food Pantries that I have contacted and that are in need of  groceries.
     C. Make sure they understand that we need them to be open on the Sunday of the drive to accept the bag deliveries (ie. 10:30AM-2:00PM) .  Confirm the times & record this infomation on the chart # 9 in this list below; and/or here is the Excel Spreadsheet list of Food Pantries that I have contacted and that are in need of  groceries.

2. Get 800-1000 Grocery Bags: Contact grocery stores (see list of suggested stores below) to get bags. Get the bags from the grocery store and place them in the Social Ministry Office or in the Parish Office Kitchen. 
Print a letter for the Grocery Store with a TAX deductible note. 


3. Prepare shopping lists: Prepare (4-8) shopping lists of items needed.  These lists will go on the bag and should have no more than ~$10 worth of items in each.  See the template lists from last year:    (on the food drive page(s) Nov & Feb, or) print them from PUBLISHER Format  or (in WORD Format) (From Roger in Nov 2008 FoodLists1-6Nov.doc) .  Arrange to have the shopping lists printed & copied.  Scott at the parish office can print the Grocery Lists.  Copy each type of shopping list on a different color paper. You are free to make copies at St. Francis Office if you tell the person at the front desk that it is for the Food Drive. Get the Grocery Lists copied on to colored paper, and, our parish office evening staff or another person/group can cut them in half & suffle them.   See Scott about colored paper & copying at St. Francis Parish Office.

4. Staple Bags: arrange to have a group staple the shopping lists to the bags.   Then not more than one week before the drive,  the labled Grocery Bags should be placed in the church ushers' room.  Make sure the persons distributing empty bags know that the bags are in the church ushers' room.  If the bags are ready sooner than one week before the drive then they should be stored in the Social Ministry Office or Office Kitchen.)   Perhaps contact: Middle School Youth Director (821-2133) or School (821-2282) at St. Francis.  See a sample Word document letter to the 7th & 8th graders.

5.  Distribute the empty bags: Arrange to have a group or individual/persons distributing empty bags one week before the delivery date.  The empty bags are distributed by volunteeers (NOT Ushers!) at every door of the church & at the end of every Mass.  (Remember to post a note explaning this to the ushers on the weekend of distributing the empty bags.)  Perhaps contact: Middle School Youth or Girl/Boy Scouts.

  • Recruiting Volunteers: ... an Excel spreadsheet (with two tabs at the bottom of the sheet that identify) 
    1. passing out empty bags at weekend Masses or 
    2. delivering the bags of groceries the following weekend after the 10:30 AM & 12:15 PM Masses. 
  • We ran out of bags at the Sunday 5:00 PM Mass.  Next time have some extra shopping lists printed.
6. Reserve the Gym (or other storage place) for the Saturday evening and Sunday of the drive (& sometimes until 8:30AM Monday morning).

7. Prepare announcements for the Forum and to be given by the priest at Mass. (Scott Wright prepares all announcements.)  The announcements should both, give parishioners information about the drive, and, ask for volunteers.  The Forum should have a form, and a Web address for accepting volunteers. 

8. Contact each organization to whom we are delivering groceries to insure that they are all set & that they will be open to accept delivery as agreed.

9. The places recieving the grocery bags are confirmed:  Here below are the addresses & directions.

10.  Post in the Gym A "Deliverers Note":  It is good to hand out a sheet (for people who help deliver the groceries) like a  "Deliverers Note" which states something like, "Deliveries should arrive at the following 
                    PANTRY (name & address & phone) or PANTRIES today... .... between the times stated (stated above in #9 of this list)...   Directions to the pantries can be included on the same sheet if you like.  Here is a page with some possible directions: http://stfrancisa2.com/socialministry/directions.htm

11.  Copy directions: Here below are the addresses & links to directions.

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The Saturday and Sunday of the drive:
1. Signs must be posted on the church doors stating, "Take the food to your seat."  These signs are already made and laminated in the Parish Social Minstry Office file cabinet under "Food Drive".
2. After each Mass people take the food to the gym and/or help deliver.  Make sure an announcement is made. As food is moved, make sure there are people/signs to help direct them.
3. As food is delivered to the Gym, it does NOT need to be separated or sorted in any way unless there are particular items/bags going to a particular pantry destination.
4. Direct volunteers to deliver the bags, load their cars, and send the bags out.  Have a SIGN-IN SHEET for persons helping.  Record deliverers names, each pantry they will deliver to & the number of bags taken, for the sake of sending the right number to the right pantries and, for thank yous & statistics.   Place the ORANGE TRAFFIC CONES in front of the School Gym to reserve the parking for deliveries & pick-ups.
5. Keys for the Gym can be picked up from the parish office during office hours on Friday or Saturday.
6. Turn the lights on in the Gym after 5PM Masses. Ask for directions if you don't know how.
7. Responsible persons decide on a schedule of who will be there at what times for the Weekend of the Drive One person is needed on Saturday about ~5:45PM to open the Gym door.  One person is needed on Sunday at about 7:45AM to open the gym door.  at least one responsible person in charge needs to be present from about 9:45 - about 2PM at which time the gym needs to be locked.   And, one person is needed on Sunday at about 5:45PM (At the 5:00PM Mass, at the end of Mass, there is a volunteer outside near the PAC who will direct the groceries to be placed into the vans of the agency that is picking them up.) (We probably will not need to open the gym door after that 5PM Mass.)

-------------------
Notes:
(name)_______ - Before the Saturday 5PM Mass hang up the signs.
(name)_______ - on Saturday about ~5:45PM to open the Gym door.
      Scott Wright - on Sunday at about 7:45AM to open the gym door. 
      Scott Wright - responsible person in charge needs to be present from about 9:45 - about 2PM.
(name)_______ - on Sunday at about 5:45PM to open the gym door and / or meet the agency representative for pick-up of whatever we have at 6PM after Mass.

Food Charity Contacts:
(Here are the contacts that I have for the organizaitons we have served in the past.  Also, see the Excel Spreadsheet here.)
 

Directions Visit: stfrancisa2.com/socialministry/directions.htm

Here is the Excel Spreadsheet list of Food Pantries that I have contacted and that are in need of  groceries. 

Notes:

Catholic Social Services - Food Pantry,
-        Catholic Social Services at Northside Community Center (734-662-4462)
-          Directions to the Northside Community Center of CSS, Here in Word format.
-          815 Taylor Rd.,  Ann Arbor  MI  48105.
-          (734-662-4462) (or call 622-0894 the CSS Housing Office on Ashly St., Ann Arbor.), 815 Taylor Rd., Ann Arbor MI 48105; 
-          www.csswashtenaw.org/ (See the "Emergency Food Program".)
10:30AM-2PM delivery on Sunday, ... .....  Contact person:  Kim Green.
Hope Clinic, Inc. (734-484-2989), 
-          Directions to HOPE Center in Ypsilanti, Here in Word format.
-          518 Harriet, Ypsilanti MI
-          www.thehopeclinic.org/
10:30AM-2PM delivery on Sunday, ..... .   Contact person:  Judy Tice.
Neighborhood Senior Services (Food Gatherers)
-        (734-712-7775 or 712-7260) 
-        http://nssweb.org/
 The pickup for Monday, November __ on behalf of Neighborhood Senior Services.  Marti Lachapell, Director of Agency Relations, Food Gatherers;  ; 734-761-2796
Perry Nursery School (677-8130) 
-        Directions to Perry Nursery School, Here in Word format.
-        3770 Packard Rd., Ann Arbor  MI  48108; www.perrynursery.org
SOS Community Services (484-4300)
-          Directions to SOS pantry in htm formate
-          http://soscs.org  or  http://comnet.org/sos/
-        114 N. River St., Ypsilanti  MI  48198.
10:30AM-2PM delivery on Sunday, ..... .   Contact person:  Donna 734.961.1210 or 
Fresenius Medical Care - Dialysis and Renal Services
-           Floyd Robinson (434-9511).
-           5205 McAuley Dr.,  Ypsilanti  MI  48197.
personal home delivery or pick-up or deliver on Monday to the Dialysis Center on McAuley Dr.
Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) at Alpha House
-           (822-0220)
-           www.alphahouse-ihn.org/
-           4290 Jackson Rd.,  Ann Arbor  MI  48103.
Community Support & Treatment Services (CSTS)
-          (477-7444)
-          www.ewashtenaw.org/ 
-          2140 E. Ellsworth Rd.,  Ann Arbor,  MI  48108.
- pick-up the 6PM Sunday groceries (Ann Rogers 477-7440  or 734-971-2282)   (FEBRUARY) CONTACT… --  Ann Rogers  (477-7440)  or (734-971-2282) (c:368-8690)  …  about picking up the 6PM Sunday groceries... 
Ann Arbor Community Center  (734-662-3128)
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Grocery Stores that have donated in the past:
- Buschs Valu Land, 2020 Green Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105,  (734-994-7200).
- Buschs Valu Land, 2240 S. Main St., Pittsfield Township, Ann Arbor, MI  48103, (Phone: 734-998-2666)
- Hiller's Market, 3615 Washtenaw Avenue (Arborland Mall), Ann Arbor MI 48104, (677-2370).
- Kroger Store, On Industrial (near Stadium), Ann Arbor  MI 48105.
- Whole Foods Market, 3135 Washtenaw Ave., at Huron Parkway Ann Arbor MI 48104; (769-0900).
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After it's all done:
1. Pat yourself on the back, good job and thanks for your help.
2. Relax
3. Review & let us know:    A. Was it helpful?    B. Was there a major task, which you needed to do that should be on this checklist?  C. Did any of the contact information change? Did you find new contacts?
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Blessings,
the Parish Social Ministry Office,  .
Read more about the next food drive program on the Internet at:
http://stfrancisa2.com/socialministry/fooddrives.htm

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 
2150 Frieze Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104