Watch your front door tomorrow, Monday, March 25th, for a flyer from the local Queen Anne Boy Scouts Troops – they’ll be distributing door hangers asking residents to donate food to fight hunger as part of the Scouting for Food drive. And, it’ll be easy to do – the Scouts will be back at your doorstep on Saturday, March 30th to pick up your donations.

The Scouts are especially interested in collecting donations of nutritious food, as many of those going hungry are children that need healthy food for proper development and growth. The most needed items are canned proteins, soups, vegetables, and fruits, as well as grains like pasta and rice. The Scouts also advise that hygiene products are also in high need. However, please avoid donating items in glass containers.

The Scouts partner with over 50 local food banks and the Scouting for Food drive collects more than 500,000 cans of food each year. Why now? The holidays are behind us, and the food banks are starting to run low – but the needs are still high. Last year, Queen Anne Scouts collected over 600 pounds of donations from Queen Anne residents.

If you receive a door hanger and would like to donate, just leave your donations in a visible location outside your front door or by the base of your mailbox by 10am on Saturday, March 30th.

St. Alphonsus Parish School is located in Ballard, but Queen Anne owes them a thank you for helping out the Queen Anne Food Bank this holiday season. Students from St. Alphonsus collected non-perishable food items throughout the month of November to donate to the Queen Anne Food Bank. The school chose to help out QAFB because it recently re-opened after closing its doors last Spring due to lack of support and the school wanted to make sure their donations went to local recipients.

The food drive began November 1st and ended at the school’s Thanksgiving Luncheon. The students’ total donations amounted to 1,520 food items delivered just in time for Thanksgiving meals.

Thank you, St. Alphonsus Parish School & Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a friendly reminder to swing by the Queen Anne Top Pot Doughnuts today to participate in their National Doughnut Day celebrations. They’ll be prizes and festivities, and if you head over before noon, the doughnut shop will be collecting non-perishable food items for Northwest Harvest (bring all donation items to Top Pot by 12 p.m. today).

Fun doughnut-y fact: National Doughnut Day was started by the Salvation Army back in 1938 to honor women who served doughnuts to World War I soldiers.

This Friday, June 3 is National Doughnut Day (yes, it’s a real thing), started by the Salvation Army back in 1938 to honor women who served doughnuts to World War I soldiers. This year Queen Anne’s own Top Pot Doughnuts has decided to get back to the roots of National Doughnut Day and find a way to use it to give back to those in need in the community.

Top Pot has decided to spread the days’ “doughnut-y cheer” by partnering with Northwest Harvest to run a NDD food drive at all of its locations.

From 6 a.m. to noon on Friday Top Pot will be collecting non-perishable food donations for Northwest Harvest. There will also be a number of fun giveaways at the cafe throughout the day as part of the NDD celebrations.

So get ready to enjoy a good doughnut or two for National Doughnut Day, and don’t forget to bring a donation with you.

Summertime means that kids who depend on free school meals might not have access to food. Bartell Drugs is turning to the community to help “Stock the Pantry” to feed kids. The third annual food drive starts Monday at all Bartell Drugs locations, including the two in the neighborhood, at 1929 Queen Anne Ave N and 600 1st Ave N.

The two-week drive “focuses on replenishing food bank, meal program and school food stocks in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties during summer months–when families that normally depend on free or reduced-price school meals may struggle to provide healthy meals at home,” the press release states.

Food donations benefit Northwest Harvest. “In 2010, over 450,000 children (almost half of all students) across the state were eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch during the school year,” said Shelley Rotondo, executive director of Northwest Harvest. “Of those children, only nine-percent participated in a summer meal program last year due in part to transportation issues, the availability of feeding sites, and other factors. This really highlights the need for a summer food drive that benefits children.”

The National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, the largest food drive in the nation, is happening this Saturday, May 14.

To donate items place a bag of non-perishable food by your mailboxes for local letter carriers to collect. The employees bring the food back to their home base, the Interbay Postal Station, where it is loaded into totes to be sorted and delivered to local food banks.

Preferred items include canned meats, fish, soup, vegetables; bottled juice, pasta, cereal and rice that do not require refrigeration. Please do not include items that have expired or are in glass containers.

Food Lifeline is seeking volunteers to staff the Interbay Postal Station from 1:30-6:00 pm Saturday to help unload the food from the mail vehicles and place it in totes.  You can sign up to volunteer by clicking here and selecting Interbay Postal Station.

Queen Anne’s Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are once again going “Scouting for Food,” an annual food drive put on by The Boy Scouts of America. The event is put on every March because food banks are historically at their lowest levels between the more traditional food drive times of Christmas and Easter, and in the greatest need.

This Saturday, March 19, scouts will be canvassing Queen Anne homes, leaving door hangers with information about hunger in the community and soliciting for donations of food, toiletries and diapers. The scouts will then return next Saturday, March 26, to pick up all donations. Those interested in making a donation should leave bags or boxes with donated items on their doorsteps, clearly marked with the words “Scouting for Food” or the door hanger taped in a visible place. All donations will go to the Queen Anne Helpline and Ballard Food Bank.

Last year the Queen Anne scouts raised over 1,050 pounds of foods for both organizations. For information on recommended donation items, see the Ballard Food Bank’s wish list. For more information on Scouting for Food and how to get involved, click here.

Although you likely received notification from the U.S. Postal Service about its annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, we

wanted to make sure you don’t forget to put out nonperishable foods for your letter carrier Saturday, May 8 if you want to participate.

The Postal Service asks that you donate items such as canned meats and

fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice, but make sure they’re not expired and that they’re not in glass containers. Don’t forget to get your donation out to the mailbox before your letter carrier arrives.

The food will be delivered to local food banks such as North Helpline, which helps families in North Seattle.

Last week the Queen Anne Cub Scouts (Troops 70 & 72) went “Scouting for Food,” collecting donated food and toiletries in an annual drive for local food banks. After collecting over 600 pounds of food last year, the scouts set their sights a little higher, aiming to reach 1,000 in the 2010 drive.

Between the two troops, the scouts were able to collect over 800 pounds of donations, which when paired with the 250 pounds collected by the Queen Anne Boy Scouts, added up to over 1,050 pounds!

According to scout parent and 2010 Scouting for Food campaign co-chair Mary Chapman, the majority of the food was donated to the Ballard Food Bank, and another 100 pounds of food and toiletries were given to the Queen Anne Helpline. Chapman wrote,

The Ballard Food Bank thanked the Queen Anne Scouts profusely, saying that their food supplies are very low this time of year.  Recently the Ballard Food Bank has had double the number of requests for assistance – up to 1,400 families a month – compared to an average of 700 just two years ago.

Thanks to the Scouts and their parents for putting this drive together, and to everyone who donated!

(Photo credit: John Hogan)

Inspired by the 2010 Olympics, Pagliacci Pizza is running a food drive for Northwest Harvest for the remainder of the games.

As many of the world’s finest athletes gather in Vancouver building international relations, we thought we’d focus on community relations by kicking off a food drive…While hometown athletes ski, skate and luge into the hero spotlight, this seemed like a great time for us to all be hometown heroes by donating food to local organizations.

Through Sunday, February 28, Pagliacci Pizza will be accepting non-perishable food donations at all of their locations. Ordering for delivery? You can also hand in donations to their delivery drivers right at your very own doorstep. For a list of suggested items for donation, click here.

Bartell Drugs is hosting a “Stock the Pantry” Food Drive to feed children and families this summer. The food drive runs through June 14 at all 55 Bartell locations, including the store at 1929 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA. They are collecting nonperishable food donations for Northwest Harvest and are especially looking for kid-friendly food items such as tuna, instant oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, cheese crackers, applesauce and canned fruit in individual servings.

The two-week food drive is especially important to help Northwest Harvest replenish food supplies during summer months when families who normally depend on free or reduced-price school meals may struggle to provide those meals at home.

 Now is the time to start gathering your donations for the 17th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” letter carriers food drive is this Saturday (5/9). 

You are asked to place nonperishable food items next to your mailbox before your mail arrives. The letter carrier will do the rest, taking the food to the Post Office where it will be sorted and delivered to an area food bank or pantry. The goal for King County is to beat last year’s total of 760,000 pounds of food collected in one day.

Volunteers will load postal vehicles and get the donations ready to distribute. Food collected in a particular neighborhood is delivered to the local food bank so people are directly helping their neighbors.

“This food drive helps stock our pantries during a critical time every year, right before school lets out for the summer and children don’t have access to school nutrition programs. With so many more people using food banks because of the difficult financial times, the food we receive from this drive is critical,” said Camilla Bishop, director of development for Food Lifeline. “

If you can’t participate by donating food on Saturday, you can donate money at foodlifeline.org or by calling 206-545-6600.