One in ten of our neighbors in Boulder and Broomfield Counties suffer from food insecurity. By hosting a food drive, you not only help get more food into the hands and homes of our clients — you also raise awareness about local hunger.
Nearly 80% of our food comes from food drives. You can make a big impact!
Click Here for Our Most Needed Items
Click Here to Donate to a Food Drive
Items we need the most
What are the best foods to donate to Harvest of Hope Pantry?
These are the nutritious items that our shoppers have most requested. Donations of other healthy and nutritious items are more than welcome.
Food items
Personal items
Items We Can't Accept
MOST-NEEDED FOODS FLYER
Click here to download a flyer for printing or emailing. Post this near or on your food drive bins. It has a list of our most-needed items and a few reminders on items we can’t accept.
Have a Virtual Food Drive
Make an Impact – Help Our Buying Power
A Virtual Food Drive allows us to procure a consistent flow of healthy and varied food. We are able to purchase many items we don’t receive from traditional food drives like meat, dairy, and fresh produce. Plus, with our strategic buying practices, we can provide one meal of food for every dollar donated.
Share this link with your colleagues, friends and family and support our mission to feed those in need.
Make an Impact – Help Our Buying Power
A Virtual Food Drive allows us to procure a consistent flow of healthy and varied food. We are able to purchase many items we don’t receive from traditional food drives like meat, dairy, and fresh produce. Plus, with our strategic buying practices, we can provide up to $8 of food for every dollar donated.
Share this link with your colleagues, friends and family and support our mission to feed those in need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Register here to get started. You will hear back from us shortly. After that it’s quite simple.
- Pick up donation bins, anytime before the drive, Monday – Friday between 9a and 2p
- Print a flyer to post on or around your bins with our most-needed items and your contact info (Let us know if you need us to print these for you.)
- Bring the donated food to the Pantry.
Yes! We welcome your personal donations of food. Remember that we can’t accept open items. We accept donations Monday through Friday 8am to 2pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30pm to 6pm.
We have a most-need items list you can share with your group. For dry goods, items that are whole grain, low in sugar, and less processed are best. High protein canned foods like hearty soups, stews, beans and chili are excellent. Nut butters, including peanut butter are great as a protein source. Other foods: cooking oil, canned tuna and chicken, canned fruits, and vegetables. (Items with pop-top lids are important for our clients without kitchens.) Grains like oatmeal, rice, and lentils, beans, canned or dry. Snack bars (preferably whole grain, low sugar), dried fruit, granola, nuts and trail mix are excellent for our clients without kitchens and for families with children. Boxed alternative milks are always appreciated for our clients who can’t drink dairy. Unopened, unused toiletries, personal hygiene items and women’s products are also appreciated.
Unfortunately, some of the most affordable non-perishable foods also have the highest sugar, sodium and processing. These foods may be high calorie but often have very low nutritional value in a balanced diet. We do our best to offer clients wholesome, nutritious options and ask that you avoid donating high sugar, highly processed snack foods, desserts, candies and sugary beverages.
Our sole mission is food. We don’t accept any clothing, shoes, backpacks or apparel. Numerous Boulder charities will gladly accept your clothing donations and make them available to those in need. Just ask us and we can steer you to those agencies!
Due to food safety regulations, we can’t accept or repackage any opened bulk foods (rice, oats, grains, etc.) at this time. (We are exploring ways to be able to get bulk food repackaged for our clients.)
We want our clients to have access to foods with a reasonable shelf life. Sell-by dates on canned goods are based on suggested quality, and not food safety. Please use your own discretion and donate accordingly.
We accept donations Monday through Saturday 8am to 2pm and Thursday 4:30pm to 6pm, no appointment needed! When you arrive at Harvest of Hope Pantry, drive to the loading dock, ring the buzzer, and a staff member or volunteer will help you unload, ask the name of your organization or group, and provide you with a donation receipt. We are not open on Sunday.
While hefty donations are a good thing, we want you to be able to manage the donations. Call or email us to schedule a pick-up of your donations.
Yes! Donations of a lump sum should be submitted in a sealed envelope, clearly marked with contact information on the outside, and a note inside with the total dollar amount. Checks should be made payable to “Harvest of Hope Pantry.” If a donor would like a receipt for their cash or check donation, please include: amount of donation, name, address, city, state, zip, phone, email address, and the name of the food drive to which they have donated. You may also wish to consider a Virtual Food Drive.