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Food Bank of Delaware holiday food drive goes virtual

Donated funds stretch further with wholesale purchasing power
October 18, 2020

Amid the pandemic, the Food Bank of Delaware announced that its annual holiday food drive has gone virtual.

To maximize resources, ensure driver and donor safety, and collect resources for Delawareans struggling with hunger, this new interactive virtual food drive fundraising tool will allow donors to create a personalized virtual food drive page and invite friends, family and co-workers to donate. Thanks to the Food Bank of Delaware’s wholesale purchasing power and efficient distribution model, food donations through the virtual food drive are stretched even further. For every dollar donated, the food bank can provide three meals to Delawareans in need.

“We are excited to launch our new virtual food drive,” said Sanjay Malik, Food Bank of Delaware interim CEO. “The virtual holiday food drive will allow us to be efficient with our resources. Traditional food drives are an expensive undertaking and take an immense amount of staff and transportation resources. The virtual food drive will allow us to address our most urgent food needs while ensuring staff safety, and preserving valuable staff and transportation resources to conduct more food distributions directly to the community.”

The new virtual food drive mirrors an online shopping experience where shoppers can select food items and place them in a shopping cart to check out and make a secure, tax-deductible donation.

To host a virtual food drive, go to fbd.fenly.org.

For individuals and businesses still interested in conducting physical food drives, contact-free donations may be delivered to the Food Bank of Delaware at 1040 Mattlind Way, Milford, in the collection box by the door marked donations and agency pickups.

Due to the pandemic, collection barrel and donation pickup will not be available this year.

The most-needed items include applesauce, cranberry sauce, oatmeal, cold cereals, pudding mix, canned pumpkin, graham cracker pie crust, canned gravy, rice, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, hearty soups, corn muffin mix, canned sweet potatoes and yams, canned peas and green beans, 100 percent fruit juice, hot chocolate, coffee and tea, evaporated milk, turkey pans and frozen turkeys.

Contact-free donation zones have been set up at both the Newark and Milford facilities. Newark donors may drop off nonperishable donations to collection boxes set up under the food bank barn on the far side of the front parking lot, and Milford donors may drop off to the collection box by the door marked donations and agency pickups.

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