Food drive volunteer sign-up sheet

What a food drive sign-up sheet looks like

This one runs a school's collection week and the delivery after it. Volunteers open one link, pick a shift under its day, and give a name and email.

How to set it up

Every new signup already has a What field and a Date field. You add two more: Starts and Job.

1. Choose New signup. If you see “What are you organizing?”, choose “Skip, fill in by hand”.
2. Type “Maple Street PTA food drive” in Title. In Description (optional), put the drop-off point and its hours, the food bank's most-needed list and what it won't take, and any age limit. Ask drivers to say what car they have in the note. Choose Create signup.
3. Choose Fields, then Add field. Name it Starts, choose Time and choose Add field again to save it. Add Job the same way, as a List. Set Group slots by to Date.
4. Open the empty slot. Type “Drop-off table, front entrance” in What, set Date to Monday, November 16, 2026 and Starts to 7:30 AM. In Job, use Add to list to make Collect. Leave Option 1 unused; volunteers won't see it.
5. Set Capacity to 2 and choose Done. Duplicate the slot four times. Open each copy and change its Date to the next weekday, up to Friday, November 20.
6. Choose Add a slot for the sorting shift (Friday, November 20, 3:30 PM, 6 spots) and the delivery run (Saturday, November 21, 9:00 AM, 3 spots). Add Sort and Deliver to Job with Add to list.
7. Choose Publish. On a phone, choose the three dots at the top, then Publish signup. Copy the Public link and send it out.

The example also has a one-person slot on Monday at 7:00 AM to put out bins and signs. Slots show in the order you add them, not by date, so drag that one above Monday's table. The help article on creating and publishing a signup has a picture of each screen.

What to ask the food bank before you pick dates

Much of a food drive is the food bank's rules. Rotary's guide starts with the local food bank, whose staff “know who needs what in your community”. (Rotary, checked October 2, 2026) Call or email it first, and ask:

• What it needs most. Ask for its current list and link to it in your description, rather than writing your own.
• What it won't take. Ask for its list, and how it treats best-by dates. The sorting section below has what some food banks name.
• Boxes or bins. Ask whether it lends collection bins or boxes, and when you can pick them up.
• Drop-off hours. Set the delivery slot's day and time inside them. A Saturday run is no use if the warehouse is closed on Saturdays.
• Whether it can collect. If it can't send a truck, you need drivers, which is what the Deliver slot is for.
• A minimum age for helpers. It matters most for sorting and for unloading at the warehouse.

How many volunteers does each shift need?

Take these as a starting point, not a rule. Put 2 people at the drop-off table, so one can thank families while the other carries full bins inside. Sorting a week of cans needs more hands, so the example gives it 6. For delivery, count your boxes and how many fit in one car, then give the slot a spot per car.

Keep spots tight. If a shift has more spots than it needs, people sign up there and the shift you're short on stays empty. You can raise a slot's Capacity later if more food comes in than you planned for.

What does the sorting shift do?

Sorters go through every bag against the food bank's rules, so less of what you deliver gets turned away. Print the food bank's list and tape it to the sorting table. A typical shift:

• Pulls out anything the food bank said it won't take.
• Checks dates the way the food bank asked, not by a rule of its own.
• Boxes food by kind, such as cans, dry goods and breakfast, and labels each box.
• Keeps boxes light enough for one person to lift into a car.

Here is what some food banks and guides say they turn down. The San Diego Food Bank says: “We cannot accept any glass containers, home-canned or baked items.” (San Diego Food Bank, checked October 2, 2026) Foodshare's guide says to leave out “items with damaged packaging or already open containers”. (Foodshare, checked October 2, 2026) Tasting Table names dented or bloated cans, and says “anything with a packaging concern will also be turned down.” (Tasting Table, checked October 2, 2026)

Dates are where they part. Foodshare says food past its use-by or sell-by date isn't always unsafe. (Foodshare, checked October 2, 2026) Tasting Table says food banks won't take anything past its use-by date. (Tasting Table, checked October 2, 2026) So ask yours, and sort by its rule.

When should you send the link?

A week or two before collection starts. For a drive that starts on Monday, November 16, send it on Monday, November 2. On Wednesday, November 11, look at which shifts are still empty and post the link again, naming them: “Still need someone at the table on Thursday morning.” OpenSignup can't email volunteers for you, so the second post comes from you.

What happens after volunteers sign up

• Each volunteer gets a confirmation email listing the shift, its date, its start time and its job. It has a link to change their spots or cancel.
• They get a reminder email the day before their shift. Someone who signs up less than a day ahead gets one about an hour after signing up, though a sign-up on the day itself may get none. Each reminder has a link to stop them.
• They can choose Add to calendar. The shift goes into their calendar at its start time, whatever time zone their phone is set to. The event lasts one hour, however long the shift runs.
• A shift whose date has passed can still be signed up for. When the drive is over, choose Close signup or delete the old slots.

Limits to know: no waitlist for a full shift, no text reminders, and no questions beyond name, email and a note. You can't message volunteers from OpenSignup. If the drive ends with a class celebration, a class party sign-up sheet handles the food and helpers. For the holiday meal itself, there's a Thanksgiving potluck sign-up sheet.

Frequently asked questions

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