Why cash donations are preferable…

QR Codes Available

To help make it easier for the general public to make monetary donations, we have made a PayPal and a Venmo QR code available for you to print out and display at your fundraising site.

Download here;

…for CTSS “Santa Cares” food drives

In some rare situations, Food Banks prefer to receive gifts of food only. For those who accept both food and cash donations, cash is almost always preferred for multiple reasons. Cash donations are also far easier on our members.

Benefits of cash donations: 

Due to Government assistance programs, every dollar collected can purchase up to $4.00 worth of food sold at retail prices 

Food Banks and Food Pantries have expenses in electricity, heating, cooling, refrigeration, etc. Cash donations help to meet these expenses 

Typically, the foods gathered at a Food Drive are similar to the foods gathered by other Food Drives. Instead of shelves being full of the soup, chili, tuna fish and peanut butter, cash donations allow for the purchase of foods which might otherwise be lacking. 

Fresh produce is seldom donated. Cash donations allow for the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

The transfer of cash donations is far easier than the transfer of collected food. Many Food Banks have limited hours when food donations are accepted. If a substantial amount of food is collected, it may need to be handled multiple times prior to getting to it’s ultimate destination. 

For CTSS purposes, it is easier to keep records detailing donations collected. At some point in time, it may be possible for CTSS to receive grants due to our charitable efforts. An accurate accounting of money raised through our efforts will go a long way in that regard. Grant money could be used to offset, or eliminate, the individual expenses currently borne by our members for our Yearly Educational Workshop Weekends 

Cash donations allow for the purchase of soap, shampoo, cooking oil, toothpaste, baby formula, and many other items not generally collected at a Food Drive 

The above are suggestions only. Each ctss member undertaking a food drive should make it their own. Many thanks to all of our ctss members for their food drive efforts in 2021. Check out our website in early 2022 for details!