Take a "detour", fun new ideas for your Drive

Huddle up and think about these ideas for your Drive......

1. Students color paper grocery bags to distribute to local grocery stores. Make a sign asking local residents to donate grocery items by filling one of the decorated sacks.
2. Host a hat, mitten, or coat drive.
3. Weigh your staff and challenge your school to match that weight in donated items.
4. Collect baby items for a women's shelter.
5. Challenge the students to fill the Principal's office with canned food items.
6. Assign each grade or classroom a specific food item and then put all the items together to make a full meal.
7. Bob for apples. Students pay $1.00 per try. Donate the proceeds to a local soup kitchen along with bags of apples.
8. Host a pasta dinner at your school to raise money for a local cause. Give a free dessert for every food contribution.
9. Create a "Knock Over the Cans" carnival game. It can be bowling style and it is a $1.00 to play.
10. Have a theme a day for a week and students bring food items to match.

For example: Do You Know the Muffin Man?- Collect breakfast items
Souper Bowl- Collect canned soup, crackers, dry soup
Healthy Snack Day- Collect fruit cups, granola bars, applesauce
Back to School Day- Collect PB and J
Vegetarian Day- Collect non meat items
Turkey in a Bag- Each class pools pennies or loose change to buy a turkey to donate to a family in a bag

11. Hold a movie night after school. To get into the movie students must bring a canned food item.
12. Hold a CANstruction contest. Classes make their canned goods into art and the Principal or volunteer judges.
13. Hold a drive to donate to the Humane Society or animal shelter in your area. See if a representative can come and talk to the class about what goes on at the shelter.
14. Hold a rice and pasta drive and donate the items to Second Helpings a non-profit organization in Indianapolis. They give tours and you can go there to weigh all your donations!
15. Have your gym teacher use the canned food items for obstacle or agility courses. Students can even design the courses for the teachers to go through!
16. Have a pen pal challenge! We can find LEAGUE schools in other states for you to challenge to see which school can bring in more canned goods!
17. Hold a Turkey Trot. Students will walk or "trot" around a school track or area for so many canned goods. Each can can be worth .25 mile and community members can sponsor students for either canned goods or money donations.
18. Health is Wealth- hold a drive of only healthy foods.
19. Gleaners Food Bank of Indianapolis needs PB, pudding cups, 100% juice, juice boxes, and fruit cups for their Kids Cafe program.
20. Sock it to me! Collect socks for local shelters.

If you have fun drive ideas, comment on this post or email me at kelly.bradford@leagueworldwide.org!