126th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

Hi Folks,

Getting Comfortable with an

Uncomfortably Big Food Donation Box



The Thank You Kids are easily spotted from most of the
checkout lanes.

Probably the most exciting aspect of the Sunflower Market’s donation box experiment is they are sincerely working with me to try to discover a way to blend in their store a large, permanent Community Food Bank donation box and at the same time, generate lots of food for the needy in Tucson.

To date we have learned that a large donation box supported by a small sticker on the checkout stand works well. The food box can be off to the side and it still fills up. However, when the sticker is removed from the checkout stand, the food donations drop dramatically. (See chart below)

My next move was to forget about those stickers and pretty up the box in addition to adding some 3 dimensional Thank You Kids. People liked the look—well, the few who saw it—because it was somewhat hidden next to the microwave oven along the front wall.

Even on a stroll in front of the 7 checkout lanes, the
Thank You Kids are in plain sight.

Rosemary, the Events Coordinator and her coworkers decided the box could take up residence beside the customer service counter on the west end of the store. Within a few days the box filled up with 104 lbs. of food. It was the best showing so far.

But another problem became apparent. The big box got in the way of the door to the accounting office which the managers have to access dozens of time a day. They were constantly bumping into the box entering and leaving the small room.

One manager suggested highlighting the box in the dining area directly in front of the checkout stands. There is a space between two booths that is right in the center of the section. Perfect. Most everyone entering or leaving the Sunflower Market cannot help but see the Thank You Kids smiling away.

Now only time and donations will tell if the big pink box has found its Feng shui in the Sunflower Market and will collect significant amounts of food for ever more.

Not As Many Neighbors
With summer vacations and folks moving out of the neighborhood, there are fewer homes to visit, but this Sunday, as with every other Sunday, the donations were sizeable.

We collected a total of 186 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $44.00 … a $25.00 check and $19.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter