Toolkit

Everything for your campaign.

Here you will find the templates for your collection week: parent letter, classroom poster and texts for your website and messaging apps. Replace everything in [square brackets].

To the parent letter To the timeline

In the kit

The toolkit.

Everything to copy or print: paste the texts into your own templates, and print the poster straight away or save it as a PDF.

Parent letter
To copy

Letter to parents with the dates, the drop-off point and what is being collected.

To the parent letter
Classroom poster “What we collect”
To print · A4

For every classroom: what can go in the box and what cannot.

To the poster
Crate Bingo
To print · A4

The class challenge: one bingo sheet per class, won with full squares instead of kilos.

To the bingo
Text snippets
To copy

Short texts for the school website, newsletter and messaging apps.

To the texts
Pitch video
MP4

The short video for the pitch in the assembly hall. As a file, so it also plays without Wi-Fi.

Coming soon

Parent letter

A letter that gets parents on board.

Parents do the shopping, so they have a say. Copy the draft, replace [School], [Dates], [Drop-off point] and [Contact person], and check the list with your local food bank.

Parent letter (draft)

Food drive for the Tafel food bank

Dear parents,

During [Dates], [School] is collecting food and toiletries for the local Tafel, part of Germany's network of food banks. The campaign is organised together with Jam The Van. The initiative was started in 2023 as a school project by two students and runs food drives at schools.

How it works:
– The campaign is introduced at a kick-off in the assembly hall.
– For one week, students bring non-perishable food and toiletries.
– Donations can be dropped off at [Drop-off point].
– After the collection week, the Jam The Van team checks every donation and packs it into crates.
– The food bank picks up the donations and passes them on to people who need them.

What can go in the box:
Food:
– Pasta and rice
– Tinned food (vegetables, fruit, fish, stew)
– UHT milk and long-life plant drinks
– Oil, flour, sugar
– Muesli and porridge oats
– Tea and coffee

Toiletries:
– Toothpaste and toothbrushes
– Shower gel, shampoo and soap
– Deodorant
– Pads and tampons
– Toilet paper
– Nappies and baby care

Please only donate unopened items in their original packaging. For food, the best-before date must not have passed.

Especially needed this time: [Star square, e.g. cooking oil]. The classes are playing Crate Bingo: the winner is not the class with the most kilos, but the one with the most different donations.

What cannot go in the box:
– Anything homemade
– Opened packets
– Chilled and frozen food
– Food past its best-before date
– Medicines

Even one packet of pasta or one tube of toothpaste helps. Taking part is voluntary.

Before the handover, photos will be taken with the classes. Only children with photo consent will be photographed. [Note on how the school handles photo consent]

If you have any questions, please contact [Contact person].

Best wishes
[Contact person]
[School]

More about Jam The Van: info@jamthevan.de · Instagram @jam.the.van

Replace the placeholders in [square brackets] before sending.

Classroom poster

The poster for your classroom.

To print for every classroom. Check the list with your local food bank first.

Food drive for the Tafel food bank

What we collect.

Please bring

Food

Pasta and rice
Tinned food (vegetables, fruit, fish, stew)
UHT milk and long-life plant drinks
Oil, flour, sugar
Muesli and porridge oats
Tea and coffee

Toiletries

Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Shower gel, shampoo and soap
Deodorant
Pads and tampons
Toilet paper
Nappies and baby care

Please don't bring

Anything homemade
Opened packets
Chilled and frozen food
Food past its best-before date
Medicines

Important

Unopened and in original packaging only; food must be within its best-before date.

Guidelines only – the local food bank's rules always come first.

Collection dates
Drop-off

Crate Bingo

The class challenge.

Every class gets a bingo sheet with 25 categories. The winner is not the class with the most kilos, but the one with the most full squares. More than 4 items per square earn nothing extra, so variety pays off.

Hang up the sheet

Print one sheet for each class and hang it up next to the classroom poster.
Tick off and date

A square is full with 4 items, the star square with 10. When a square is full, tick it off and write the day next to it.
Checked on counting day

We count by category and check every item. Only what is unopened and non-perishable counts.

★ The star square

The star square in the middle is chosen by the local food bank: whatever it needs most right now. All classes at a school have the same star square, and it is announced at the pitch in the assembly hall. If the food bank has no answer, it is cooking oil.

Points

Full square: 4 checked items from one category; 1 pt
Bingo line: 5 full squares in a row, column or diagonal; +3 pts
Star square: 10 items of whatever the food bank needs most; +3 pts
Full Van: All 25 squares, so 106 matching items; +10 pts

In case of a tie

Participation. The teacher makes a tally mark for every child who brought something, without names.
Speed. Whoever completed their first bingo line on an earlier day.
Quality. Fewer items sorted out on counting day.
Draw. If everything really is equal.

Every class with at least one line gets a certificate. The prize for the best class is donated by a partner.

Food drive for the Tafel food bank

Crate Bingo

Class

Pasta Day: ____
Rice Day: ____
Toothpaste and toothbrushes Day: ____
Lentils, beans, chickpeas Day: ____
Cooking oil Day: ____
Tinned vegetables Day: ____
Shower gel and soap Day: ____
UHT milk Day: ____
Porridge oats Day: ____
Tinned fish Day: ____
Flour Day: ____
Passata Day: ____
★ Star square Day: ____
Tinned fruit Day: ____
Pads and tampons Day: ____
Tinned stew Day: ____
Coffee Day: ____
Shampoo Day: ____
Sugar Day: ____
Plant-based drinks Day: ____
Deodorant Day: ____
Muesli Day: ____
Tea Day: ____
Salt and spices Day: ____
Nappies Day: ____

Text snippets

For your website and messaging apps.

For the school website, newsletter and parent group chats. Copy, fill in the placeholders, done.

School website and newsletter

We are collecting food for the Tafel food bank

During [Dates], [School] is collecting non-perishable food and toiletries for one week for the local Tafel, part of Germany's network of food banks. The campaign is organised together with Jam The Van, an initiative that was started in 2023 as a school project by two students.

It kicks off with a short pitch in the assembly hall. After that, everyone who takes part brings something along, for example pasta, rice, tinned food, oil, toothpaste or shower gel. Please only unopened packets, and for food only items whose best-before date has not passed. Donations can be dropped off at [Drop-off point].

After the collection week, the Jam The Van team checks every donation. Then the food bank picks up the donations.

Contact person at the school: [Contact person]
More about Jam The Van: [Link to website] · Instagram @jam.the.van

Replace the placeholders in [square brackets] before sending.

Short text for messaging apps

Food for the Tafel food bank: During [Dates], [School] is collecting non-perishable food and toiletries, together with Jam The Van. Feel free to send something along, for example pasta, rice, tinned food, oil or toothpaste. Please only unopened items, and for food only items whose best-before date has not passed. Drop-off: [Drop-off point]. Questions to [Contact person].

Replace the placeholders in [square brackets] before sending.

Get in touch

Write to us.

Tell us which school you are at and which dates suit you. We will get back to you by email.

We are four volunteers, so we cannot take on every request straight away. We read every message and will tell you honestly whether and when it works for us.

Everything for your campaign.

The toolkit.

Parent letter

Classroom poster “What we collect”

Crate Bingo

Text snippets

Pitch video

A letter that gets parents on board.

The poster for your classroom.

Please bring

Food

Toiletries

Please don't bring

The class challenge.

Hang up the sheet

Tick off and date

Checked on counting day

For your website and messaging apps.

Write to us.