Beyond Belief Network Guides: Care Package

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BBNThe holiday season can be a lonely time for those without home and family. Why not brighten their spirits with a care package?  

Tips to Get Started

  • Potential recipients. Deciding who receives your care packages will determine what items you need to collect or purchase. There are many potential recipients: children in a local hospital or shelter, senior citizens in a care home or hospice, military, etc. If you’ve chosen a specific organization, contact them and ask about suggested items. If your volunteer group is collecting for children, figure out the age brackets and the number of children within each bracket.
     
  • Donation drive. Once you’ve decided who will receive your care packages and what items you’ll need to collect, host a donation drive! Ask volunteer group members to bring needed items to your next meeting. Solicit local businesses and request to leave a donation box at their location. Alternatively, you can also collect funds and purchase the items later.   
     
  • Advertise. In order to get as much attention as possible, advertise to your group, other local freethought groups, friends and family. Utilize social media to help get the word out.
     
  • Needed supplies. You’ll need some basic supplies to create your care packages. Most of these items can be donated by your volunteers, but budget carefully for the items that you will need to buy. The items you’ll need include: bags/boxes, wrapping paper and/or ribbons (to make them festive and beautiful), appropriate items, candy (check first), and small cards (to write encouraging or bright messages).

Volunteers Needed

If you decide to create care packages, you’ll need volunteers. You should have:

  • Contact. This is the individual who contacts the selected organization to ask about suggested or needed items. Ideally, this person should create a master list of those items and distribute it to the rest of the group. The Contact should also schedule and arrange when the delivery of the care packages.
  • Organizers. These individuals solicit local businesses for items and/or ask if they can leave a donation box. The odds of a successful donation drive increase if the business has a lot of foot traffic, so keep that in mind. Check on the boxes often during the donation drive. Organizers should also be the ones to purchase needed items.    
  • Collector. This individual will house all of items collected by the Organizers. Organizers should arrange a set time to drop the items off at the Collector’s home. Having all items at one location will make it easier when it’s time to create the care packages.
  • Packers. Several individuals who pack the items into care packages. Perfect for younger or creative group members.  

Questions or Concerns?

If you need help with planning your event or have additional questions, the best way to contact Beyond Belief Network is to use the contact webform, which enables us to track the resolution of your question: foundationbeyondbelief.org/contact-bbn. You can also email us at bbn@foundationbeyondbelief.org.

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