Host a Donation Drive

Donors sit outside the Seattle House with a large pile of food donations.Want to host a donation drive for the House and don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place!

Each year, many individuals, businesses and organizations support us by hosting fundraising events. Holding a drive at your workplace, church, or as a fun activity for scout troops is an easy way to make a huge difference in the lives of our families. Here are some ideas and resources to get you started!

Food

With 105 families using our free pantry, we go through an enormous amount of food here at the House. We love your donations any time of year — you can deliver the food directly to the Seattle House or buy it from our Amazon Wishlist. Check out the Seattle House wish list for more information on donating food!

We’ve also prepared some handy sheets listing our food needs that you can print and take with you to hand out at your chosen donation site, like outside of a grocery store or in the break room at your workplace.

For our food drives, we request that you donate:

  • New products directly from a store to give us the longest possible time to use them.  Please do not donate any food that is near or beyond its expiration date — we cannot use it and it will be thrown away.
  • All items must be 16oz or less in size.
  • We cannot accept home-canned goods.

Toiletries and Essential Items

We know that family comes first and that our residents don’t always have a time to pack a bag before they get here. We offer things like shampoo, toothbrushes, other toiletries and supplies to families who are medevaced here or in a rush because of extreme medical emergency.  We invite you to collect toiletry items listed on our wish list for families in need.

Fundraising Events

Hosting a fundraising event is another great way to help our families—whether you donate proceeds from your bake sale, a golf tournament, a neighborhood garage sale or any other event.

  • Bake Sale: Sell goodies at your school, work, or church and donate the proceeds to RMHC.
  • Penny Drive: Challenge your friends, classmates, or coworkers to fill up a large container with coins. Roll coins or bring them to a local Coinstar to convert them into a donation for RMHC. Please note that we cannot accept loose or unrolled coins.
  • Garage Sale: Donate the proceeds from your neighborhood’s garage sale to RMHC.
  • Raffle: Sell raffle tickets for a fabulous item to your community!
  • Online fundraising site: Create a “Go Fund Me” type page to make it easy to collect donations online for RMHC. Be sure to contact our Special Events Manager, Emma, for the best way to go about raising money online.

Check out our External Benefit Event Guidelines for more details.

For information on hosting an event, contact Development at (206) 838-0629.