A Complete Guide To Donating and Volunteering for Thanksgiving
In a few weeks, families across America will come together to share a Thanksgiving meal. For many of us, we think of a grand feast with turkey, sides, and dessert. But, many people do not have the food they need to thrive, and this is especially challenging during the holidays.
You can help neighbors in your community enjoy a Thanksgiving meal this season by donating and volunteering. Here’s how to do it.
Where to Donate Food for Thanksgiving
Food should be donated to your local food pantry or food bank. Northern Illinois Food Bank works with over 900 food pantries, mobile food truck markets, and soup kitchens, including My Pantry Express.
For those unsure of where to find a local food bank or pantry, Feeding America offers a convenient tool to locate nearby options.
Once you’ve located your local food pantry or food bank, you can find information about how, when, and where to drop off food. Food banks may also have specific requests for foods they need and foods they may not accept.
Thanksgiving Foods You Can Donate
Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times of the year for food banks. Healthy, non-perishable food items are always great to donate to food banks, but they are in even higher demand around the holidays.
Here are some Thanksgiving foods you can donate:
- Boxed stuffing
- Instant mashed potatoes
- Canned vegetables
- Dry macaroni
- Cranberry sauce
- Canned pumpkin
What to Avoid Donating for Thanksgiving
Because food banks need to ensure that all the food they provide is safe, they cannot accept Thanksgiving turkeys or leftovers from holiday meals. Instead, food banks work with restaurants, caterers, and manufacturers to gather and donate leftover food that is guaranteed to be fresh and safe for families in need. You may think that fresh produce is a good food to donate because it’s healthy, but it’s better to avoid donating highly perishable items. Food banks can work with farmers and corporate partners to help bring fresh produce to families before it goes bad. Other items to avoid donating are food nearing its expiration date and foods very high in fat or sugar.
How to Volunteer for Thanksgiving
To help distribute food to families in need during Thanksgiving, contact your local food pantry or food bank to learn how you can volunteer there. At My Pantry Express, we have 10 different locations with volunteer opportunities in Northern Illinois. Each of our food pick-up sites needs five to ten volunteers to greet neighbors, collect their orders from the truck, and load them into their cars. You can volunteer whatever free time you have—just one shift or one day—or you can choose to volunteer every week. There is no long-term commitment.
Benefits of Volunteering for Thanksgiving
Volunteers are essential in helping fight hunger in every community, and being a volunteer can have a positive impact on your own life.
Here are some top benefits of volunteering.
Whether you collect, sort, pack, or distribute food or perform any other duty, you can leave knowing you helped put food on the table for people in need. Just a few hours of your time can make a huge difference for community members in need.
There are several mental, emotional, and physical benefits to volunteering. Giving your time to volunteer can actually make you feel like you have more time and inspire you to make the most of every day. For kids and teenagers, volunteering has been linked to improved grades, reduced drug usage, and increased self-esteem. For adults, volunteering can also improve your health, allow you to spend more time with family, and generally make you happier. Washington University found that adults 55 and over who volunteered had better stamina and memory and maintained their overall health longer than others their age. Finally, the University of Texas found that getting involved in helping your community lowers rates of depression and anxiety.
Volunteering is a great way to spend quality time with people you care about. You can volunteer with friends, family, partners, kids, and coworkers in a safe, wholesome environment.
For students and young professionals, volunteering provides an opportunity to learn new skills. You can interact with others, learn how food banks work, earn credits for courses, and demonstrate your commitment to the community to schools and employers.
Taking some time out of your busy everyday life and working together with friends old and new to achieve a meaningful goal is, put simply, a lot of fun.
