BŻK Food Drives are a special type of social initiative that the Kraków Food Bank has been organizing for over 20 years. They take place once every six months in the days running up to the two main catholic holidays celebrated in Poland. There is the BŻK Christmas Food Drive and the BŻK Easter Food Drive.
The idea is simple — we send out volunteers to selected convenience stores with the aim of encouraging shoppers to purchase food and pass it straight on into our distribution systems. Volunteers aid the shoppers in choosing the right kind of products, especially those with a long expiration date such as oils, canned foods, rice, sugar or sweets.
C in Polish stands for cukier — sugar. Olej is the Polish word for oil. Konserwa is the word we use for canned foods, but also for intellectual inflexibility. Ryż is the word for rice, and czekolada is, of course, chocolate.
The collected products are distributed to poverty-stricken families with the help of local charity organizations. These efforts focus around aiding large families, children, those affected by homelessness, illness or lonesomeness.
We set out on BŻK Food Drives with the following aims in mind:
- Obtaining specific high-grade food products to mend gaps in our donation stocks
- Raising sensitivity to the problems of poverty, homelessness and malnutrition
- Promoting the idea of volunteer work
- Increasing the reach of our own communication channels
If you would like to aid us in organizing one of the BŻK Food Drives drop us a line at bz.krakow@bankizywnosci.pl
