Beginning in January, weāre offering a Lead/Coordinator training as your team is forming up. This session brings your new team together to walk through a pantry and food-drive models, clarify roles and responsibilities, and explore ways to welcome more community members into your work. The goal is to help new chapters start strong with a shared understanding of the monthly process and a clear partnership between leads and coordinators.
Whether youāre working with just one coordinator or several, weāre here to help you work through the details and create a plan to get started. This training is designed to build your skills as a chapter lead, learning how to train and support your coordinators on your own.
This training is for the chapter lead and coordinator. The online calendar allows you to add emails so others will receive the invite and event information. Training will be via Google Meet. Schedule a 30, 45 or 60-minute meeting with Zakiya, Alyssa, and Jennifer for January 2026.
Click on the images for details on how to schedule a group meeting.
Please share your comments on the monthly collection report. We read them and we share them with the team. Leave a tip, feedback, pantry comments, neighbor thoughts - whatever you want. If you write an email to your coordinators, volunteers, and donors, include PORCH. We may use your stories, quotes and pictures in communications, social media, donor relations, fundraising, and more.
Everyone I spoke with while outreaching to new neighborhoods was so excited to participate! Here are some comments from a neighborhood I contacted about joining: "Thank you for bringing this mission to our neighborhood!" "Thank you for doing this. Iād love to add stuff, but every Wednesday for the past 10 years I also do a food pantry at Unity Baptist Church on 96 Youngsville and then will take leftovers to ACIM in Oxford...Brittany, this is such a wonderful idea to help those in need. God bless youš"
From one new neighborhood - Keep up the good work!
From their partner pantry: the need is growing, the grocery store and food bank donations are shrinking, so PORCH helps bridge the divide between needs and supplies on hand to serve. So proud to be able to help! Our pantry is so very grateful! As the pantry board chair says, ā Its a wonderful thing when two great organizations team together āā¤ļø
Please keep sharing your photos. They put your chapter story in perspective for others to see and want to join in as well.
Social media brings everyone to PORCH
15-18% of new people learned about PORCH from social media. It's the right place to share what your pantry partner needs each month, highlight donors and volunteers, and ensure everyone stays up to date on chapter events.
Donations from the chapter webpage
When donations come in through your chapterās webpage, you should receive an automatic notification (see below). These alerts typically arrive right away, so you can promptly thank donors and confirm their gift was received. Timely follow-up goes a long way in strengthening donor relationships.
Jennifer receives the same notification, so when she sees your first donation come through, she'll contact you to make sure you're receiving the notifications, too.
All contributions made through your chapterās page are part of your Chapter Growth account for materials, outreach, and other resources that help grow your chapter and support your coordinators and activities.
The Front PORCH is your go-to space for tools, tips, and teachings to help you build and grow your neighborhood or chapter. Weāve designed this site to give you quick and easy access to the resources you need most ā no matter where you are on your PORCH journey. The left-hand navigation bar is always available to help you find what you need, when you need it. We're always adding more so check often for new items. Also, don't hesitate to email us for a resource that doesn't yet exist. Ensure you're signed into your PORCH email to have full access to all materials.
Chapter Lead Conversations
Sarah Weiser (Williamsburg)
Iām partnering with a local daycare to do monthly food drives at the daycare center. Looking for recommendations for the best kind & size of collection box(es) to use. Iāve been looking mostly at cardboard ones. Seems like the tall ones would get too heavy to transport to the pantry and couldnāt support the weight of the donations.
Sheila Riffle (Apex)
Any ideas for high schoolers to help? They offered to door to door with a flyer (which I actually think would help greatly in my neighborhood!). I offered student ambassador, start your own porch with your family, and maybe start a drive at your school.
Anne Rico (Chattanooga)
Good morning! I have an opportunity to speak at a local Rotary meeting about PORCH, but they said they expect speakers to talk for 25 minutes. I donāt know if I have that much content, any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
