Instagram
VOLUNTEER
DONATE
About Packathon

About Packathon

REGISTER
ABOUT
RESOURCES

Packathon aims to foster community involvement as we work together to end hunger today, tomorrow, and for good! The annual, signature, hands-on food-packing event for the Great Plains Food Bank provides help and assistance to our community members in North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota who are food insecure. The first Packathon took place in 2013. 

For more information contact Rebecca Knutson at rknutson@greatplainsfoodbank.org

Packathon is held at the two warehouse locations of the Great Plains Food Bank.

Fargo: April 24 and 25
Great Plains Food Bank, Statewide Distribution Center
1720 3rd Ave. N
Thank you to our Premier Partner, Merrill Lynch, and our Contributing Partner, Bell Insurance.

Bismarck: April 27 and 28
Great Plains Food Bank, Regional Service Center
1315 S 20th St.
Thank you to our Premier Partner, Basin Electric Power Cooperative

Local and statewide businesses in Fargo and Bismarck, who have joined with us in our mission to end hunger together, are invited to form a team of ten employees (with room for up to 15) to participate in this exclusive food-packing and awareness-building experience. Only 20, 1.5-hour, volunteer shifts are available (10 in Fargo, 10 in Bismarck), with five teams scheduled each day, over the span of the four-day event. Shifts run 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Groups reserve their preferred time slot, knowing they fill on a first-come basis. 

Each participating group donates $1,500 to support the cost to “move the food” they pack at either the Fargo or Bismarck warehouse. The donations are used to support the costs of trucking the surplus food such as gas, vehicle maintenance, and distribution.

Great Plains Food Bank celebrates and highlights each team’s impact during a welcome orientation before their scheduled packing time and a closing reception, with refreshments and opportunities for further engagement.

The Great Plains Food Bank partners with 193 food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens in 100 communities across North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota, providing 9.9 million meals to 138,439 individuals in need annually. 

Eighty percent of food distributed by our network of food pantries comes from the Great Plains Food Bank. Our goal for Packathon 2023 is to engage 20 teams to pack 50,000 pounds of food and raise $50,000, which supports our costs to provide service to our partner agencies and source and distribute the surplus food packed to thousands of individuals across our service area. 

Ninety-five percent of Great Plains Food Bank revenue is used to deliver programs and services to people facing hunger. 

Yes! The Impact Menu provides opportunities for individual Packathon team members, or businesses, to be involved at a deeper level in our work to end hunger today, tomorrow and for good. Whether participating on a Packathon team or unable to join, businesses are encouraged to share the Impact Menu with all staff. Items featured show how each financial donation can support the Great Plains Food Bank’s ability to source and distribute food to targeted populations needing assistance due to barriers/access challenges. Through donation “add-ons,” individuals or teams can deepen their impact and help the Great Plains Food Bank get food and services closer to the people who need it. This can be done prior to, or as a follow-up to Packathon.

Donation “add-ons” help fill the gap by supporting the following programs and services of the Great Plains Food Bank:

  • School Pantry
  • Food Distribution
  • Senior Food Pack
  • Wellness Pantry
  • Meal Delivery
  • Diaper Bank
  • BackPack Program
  • Mobile Food Pantry

It is easy! Spots are limited. The first step is to register.

  • Register by March 31.
  • Select your preferred date and volunteer time. Teams are scheduled on a first come, first serve basis, so requests are not guaranteed but we will do our best to accommodate. As a reminder, Packathon is April 24 and 25 in Fargo and April 27 and 28 in Bismarck. Please double check to make sure you register for the correct date based on your location.
  • You will be required to provide contact information for a team captain. All information from Great Plains Food Bank regarding Packathon will go to this person. 
  • When Great Plains Food Bank receives your registration, you will receive an automated confirmation of your registration.
  • The team captain is responsible for forming the team of ten (with room for up to 15) that will represent your company at Packathon. Great Plains Food Bank will be in contact with your team captain to provide a checklist of next steps, collect team member information, and communicate day-of expectations.
  • Questions? Please contact Rebecca Knutson at rknutson@greatplainsfoodbank.org.

Thank you to our Premier Partners

© Great Plains Food Bank

Privacy Policy

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Made with ♥ by TEAM ABOVO | Fargo North Dakota

PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices for Great Plains Food Bank regarding websites located at www.greatplainsfoodbank.org and give.greatplainsfoodbank.org. Great Plains Food Bank reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to change this Privacy Policy simply by posting such changes on our site. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting. Great Plains Food Bank (“us”, “we”, “our”). Website visitor, guest, and/or donor (“you”, “user”).

Information Collection

  • Personal Information You Choose to Provide In the process of general correspondence, making a gift, or participating in online surveys you may be asked to supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other information. If you correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages, your email address, and our responses. 
  • Website Use Information Similar to most websites, our site may utilize “cookies” and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered may include the date and time of visits, pages viewed, time spent on our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis; none of this information is associated with you as an individual.

How Do We Use Information 

  • That You Provide to Us? We use personal information for purposes of administering our not-for-profit business activities, providing service and support, and making available other information and services to our website visitors, guests, agency partners, advocates, contracted consultants, and approved vendors. We may use the information provided to notify you about important changes to our website, new services, or new information that supports your interest in hunger-relief. 
  • Collected From Cookies? We use cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users’ browsing activities. This information assists us in designing and continually improving our web pages in the most user-friendly manner. We do not use these technologies to capture any personally identifying information.

Security

  • How Do We Protect Your Information?
    • We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. 
    • Our operations and business practices are periodically reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information. 
    • Our organization values ethical standards, policies and practices and is committed to the protection of user information. Our not-for-profit business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limits the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
  • How Do We Secure Information Transmissions? All information transmitted through our website, giving pages, and forms are sent via secure, encrypted server. Other emails you send to us may not be secure; for that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.
  • Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties? We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information. We may provide aggregate information about our website visitors or website traffic patterns to our contracted affiliates or third parties; this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy. Personal information such as email and address may be shared with a contracted third party for the use of email dissemination and direct mail marketing; all third party vendors are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
  • Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information? We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.

Permission to Use of Materials 

  • The right to download and store or output the materials on our website is granted for personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.

Your Access to and Control of Information 

  • You may request access to all of your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our donor constituent database, DonorPerfect. 
  • You may request removal from any communication including but not limited to emails, direct mail pieces, text and phone calls.
  • Because we do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information; opting out of such practices is optional and not required.

Contact Great Plains Food Bank/Opt-out

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, need to opt-out of future communications, or wish to exercise any other privacy right you may have by law, please contact us in any of the ways shown below.

Great Plains Food Bank
attn. Development Associate
1720 3rd Ave N
Fargo, ND 58102

Phone: 701-476-9120

Email: info@greatplainsfoodbank.org

All opt-out requests will be honored, but please be patient with us as it may take up to twelve (12) weeks for opt-out changes to be fully implemented. We may also occasionally initiate contact with opt-out supporters in order to update their contact preferences, and we will promptly accommodate their updated preferences, if any.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

DONATION REFUND POLICY

We are grateful for your donation and support of our organization. If you have made an error in making your donation or change your mind about contributing to our organization please contact us. Refunds are returned using the original method of payment. If you made your donation by credit card, your refund will be credited to that same credit card.

AUTOMATED RECURRING DONATION CANCELLATION

Ongoing support is important to enabling projects to continue their work, so we encourage donors to continue to contribute to projects over time. But if you must cancel your recurring donation, please notify us.