Getting Started
Before Starting and Running a Popup Food Drive, you - the Event Operator - will need to learn how the process all works. Below is the Getting Started Guide, a guide broken down into 6 main steps for Event Operators to follow to ensure the success of their events. Click on the different steps below to start your Popup Food Drive.
The Getting Started Guide
When ready to start a Popup Food Drive, you will need to select a Food Charity that you would like to assist. To look up the Food Charities that are a part of the Popup Food Drive Program, visit the Associated Food Charities page.
Food Drive Campaigns allow event operators to run drives for specific items in need by a Food Charity. Traditionally, the main items required by Food Charities are non-perishable food donations. Additionally, some Charities may wish to run specialty drives from time to time to obtain specialty items, such as Toiletry or Hygiene Items needed by their clients. On the Associated Food Charities page, see which Food Drive Campaign is currently required. When you go to start your Food Drive, you will be able to select the Food Drive Campaign type you wish to run.
An Event Operator may request a PopupFoodDrive Kit from the Food Charity. The PopupFoodDrive Kit provides an Event Operator with the tools to mark an event's location, as well as advertise their event to the community through physical communication methods.
Included in a PopupFoodDrive Kit is:
- 1 Feather Flag Sign
(15-foot feather flag, full color, double-sided, ground stake) - 3 Yard Signs
(24x18 inch yard sign, corrugated plastic, printed) - 1 A-Frame Sign
(24x42 inch PVC plastic a-frame sign, vinyl lettering) - Event Posters
(24x18 inch poster, printed)
The Flag Signs, Yard Signs, and A-Frame Signs are all reusable Event Signage. Take care of them so that your Food Charity can continue to use them to run PopupFoodDrives to benefit the community. The Posters are non-reusable. Event Operators can enter Event Information onto the Posters, including the Items Needed, Location, Date/Time, and name.
After Selecting a Food Charity to Assist, Identifying their Required Items, and deciding if you would like to Reserve a PopupFoodDrive Kit, you are ready to Start a PopupFoodDrive. To do so, click the Start a Popup Food Drive button, located at the bottom of this page. This will take you to the Start an Event Page. On the Start an Event page, you will need to fill out a form providing information on the Food Charity, the Event, and the Event Operator (you). Once you finished filling out the form, you can click the Register button at the bottom of the page to register your event with your selected Food Charity.
Before running your event, you will need to know how to use your PopupFoodDrive Kit, if you have decided to receive one.
Again, the contents of the Kit include:
- 1 Feather Flag Sign
(15-foot feather flag, full color, double-sided, ground stake) - 3 Yard Signs
(24x18 inch yard sign, corrugated plastic, printed) - 1 A-Frame Sign
(24x42 inch PVC plastic a-frame sign, vinyl lettering) - Event Posters
(24x18 inch poster, printed)
Each signage type has its unique advantages when advertising and directing people to your event.
- Feather Flag Sign
The Flag Sign provides a highly visible event marker from a distance. Place this sign in an open area near your event to guide people to the general event location. - Yard Sign
The Yard Sign provides directions to your event. Point the arrow on the sign towards your event location to guide people to the drop-off location. - A-Frame Sign
The A-Frame Sign communicate's the specific event location. Use this sign to directly mark the location that an event is occurring at. - Event Posters
The Event Posters can similarly be used to communicate a drop-off location. If you do not wish to use an A-Frame sign to mark the event's location, you can use a Poster instead.
The signs are easy to use. To set up your signage, do the following:
- Feather Flag Sign
To assemble the Flag Sign, first decide if the sign will be staked into the ground or on a hard surface. If it's going on a hard surface, open the outer pocket and pull out the metal base, which come in two arms. First, place down the shorter arm with the notch. Then place the longer arm perpendicular over the shorter arm, being sure to align the holes. You can then open the rest of the bag. Inside the bag, there are two flag pole Mounts. Chose the shorter Mount with the thread, nut, and washers, not the longer Mount with the stake. Remove the nut and both washers, and place the threaded end into the base hole that you aligned earlier. Place first the larger washer, then the smaller locking washer onto thread poking through the bottom of the base. You will then place the nut on the threaded rod and tighten it with the included wrench. If it's going to be in the ground, open the bag and obtain the longer Mount with the attached stake, not the shorter Mount with the nuts and thread. The Mount has an attached stake that you will need to insert into the ground. Be careful. Do not pound the Mount itself, which is the shorter, swiveling rod piece with the rubber grommets, into the ground. This will damage the Mount, preventing the pole from being able to be inserted. Carefully use a hammer to pound the longer stake rod into the ground.From here, the instructions are the same for both the stake and metal arm base. Layout the flag on its side in a dry, clean location. As you go through the process of assembling the rods and poles, push them into flag. First, take the Top Rod out of the bag. This rod is the thinnest rod, is flexible, and has a black rubber piece at its tip. The Top Rod is 45.5 inches in length. Slide the rod tip-first into the flag until just the end is showing. Then, take the thin Extension Rod, which is around 14 inches in length, out of the bag. Join the Extension Rod with the Top Rod by inserting the Top Rod into the Extension Rod. Slide both rods further into the flag until just end is showing. Next, take the Tapper pole out of the bag. This pole tappers, from the size of the Extension Rod at its top (approximately 0.5 inch) to the size of a pole (approximately 1 inch) at the bottom. The Tapper Pole is 43 inches in length. Insert the top of the Tapper Pole into the Extension Rod. Push the pole into the flag until just the end is showing. Next, take both of the Mid Poles out of the bag. There are a total of 2 Mid Poles in the bag, both of which are 42.5 inches in length, and around 1 inch in diameter. The top of both Mid Poles has a black nylon coupler. Take a Mid Pole and insert the nylon coupler into the Taper Pole. Push the pole into the flag until just the end is showing. You can then take the other Mid Pole and insert it into the first Mid Pole you attached. Push the pole into the flag until just end is showing. Lastly, take the Base Pole out of the bag. The base pole is 27.5 inches in length, around 1 inch in diameter, and has a black nylon coupler at the top. Take the nylon coupler and insert it into the previous pole. Slide the Base Pole into the flag until the poles are up to the top of the flag.You are now ready to mount the flag and poles onto the base. Take the Base Pole and place it onto the Mount. Next, take the the bungee cord, attached to the flag, and hook it onto black nylon tensioning collar, located on the Base Pole. Adjust as necessary to apply tension.
Congratulations! Your Feather Flag Sign is now assembled, and ready to be used to identify the drop-off location.
- Yard Sign
The Yard Sign comes in to parts: the corrugated plastic sign itself, and a H-Stake.To assemble the Yard Sign, carefully push the H-Stake into the corrugated slots of the sign. You can decide which slots to use. Next, push the sign into the ground lightly, using your foot to carefully push on the H-Stake cross member. Be careful. The metal of the H-Stake is lightweight, and can easily be bent if you press to hard. - A-Frame Sign
The A-Frame sign comes pre-assembled. All that you need to do to set up the sign is pull the two boards apart. Be careful not to pinch your fingers when pulls the boards apart or pushing them back together. - Event Posters
The Event Posters includes fillable fields to describe the event. The fields include the Items Needed, Location, Date/Time, and Event Operator name. The items currently needed by your selected Food Charity were determined in Step 2: Identify Required Items. Fill out the Poster's fields first, and then tape it at the desired location.The Posters are disposable, but can be saved as event memorabilia.
You are now ready to use your PopupFoodDrive Kit! Be sure to take good care of the Kit so others can use it to run their events as well.
Don't forget to return the Kit back your selected Food Charity after use!
In order to get people to know about your PopupFoodDrive, you need a way to market it. The PopupFoodDrive Marketing Materials allow Event Operators to easily market their events through popular Social Media Networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. To access the Marketing Materials, visit the Running an Event page.