Stuff-A-Bus Food Drive BINGO

Target Audience: The target for this entry was Tri-Valley residents looking to provide assistance for those in need by donating to a food drive and "Stuffing" a bus with non-perishable food items. By having one of our buses on site as the donation collection point for the event, non-riders were able to board the bus to see how much food had been donated and to have questions about riding our services answered in a relaxed environment.

Strategy Objective:The strategy was to create a draw to encourage participants to donate more than a single can of food and to create a game environment with prizes to engage children shopping with their parents. The squares of the bingo card represented the items most requested by the two food pantries that were going to receive the donations. While donations of any size were accepted, game participants could either complete a straight line bingo for a lower value item or a coverall for a higher value item, as well as an entry in a drawing for San Jose Sharks hockey tickets and other prizes. This page on our website http://www.wheelsbus.com/stuff-a-bus/ explains the Bingo game and provides a link for judges to see the bingo card.

Situation Challenge: In previous years, we had partnered with a major area grocery chain on an annual food drive. We planned to do that again and had selected the date for the food drive. As a result of the Northern California wildfires, this grocery chain decided to refocus their fundraising activities to those impacted by the fires and withdrew their partnership for this year. Our Board of Directors asked that staff move forward and find a new grocery partner for the food drive, which was then just a short time away. The second challenge was to create something fun to differentiate this food drive from all the others taking place during the holiday season and to promote the event with such a short time frame. The result was Stuff-a-Bus BINGO and a partnership with radio station KKIQ!

Results Impact: Over 2,400 pounds of food were collected along with $455 in gift cards. One member of our Board of Directors, Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, stopped by the event and ended up donating four carts full of food (see photo) The food drive helped reinforce the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority's position as a community partner. The food drive was so successful that our supermarket partner asked us to expand the food drive to a second location this year. We are also introducing a new element this year, permitting on-line donations using the grocery store's "ClickCart" program.

Why Submit: This project took the standard food drive and introduced an element of fun. Evidence of the success of the effort was the amount of donations received for a food drive with little advance publicity and the fact that the grocery store not only asked us to return due to the increased traffic they saw, they also asked us to expand to a second location and made donating easier through the use of online ordering.