Fill the Shelves

Project Description:

Project Description

The Algonquin Students’ Association and other community members sponsor the Algonquin College Food Cupboard, an organization that understands students’ financial challenges and is available to help. According to a recent CBC News research, 40% of Canadian students are food insecure, and campus food banks are struggling to meet demand. The AC Food Cupboard provides food and other basic essentials to students who seek assistance, they can access the service once per month to receive a 3-day supply of food and supplies. Project Fill the Shelves is a noble undertaking to help the AC Food Cupboard in meeting their desired requirements by raising funds and donations that satisfy both quality and quantity. Our team aims to raise $1000 in products by holding a bake sale and hosting an online fundraising campaign, asking team members’ friends and family for donations.
Our project begins on June 2, 2022, and concludes on July 27, 2022, with all collected donations physically delivered to the AC food cupboard.

Team Roles and Responsibilities

Our team consisted of 6 members, with each member responsible for a specific function of the project. Modupe Adara was in charge of quality management, while Fereshteh Saradar and Kavish Pastagia handled risk management and procurement management, respectively. The efficient operation of the online fundraising portal, resource management, and communication was ensured by Kapisha Tewatia and Gurpwiter Singh. Finally, Ratnamala Phukon manages the overall project, ensuring that the project’s scope is met within the decided time and budget.

Project Planning

The project is planned in three distinct phases. The first is the Planning phase where the team conducts meeting to prepare the Project Management plan. In this phase, the entire project is deconstructed into individual tasks and arranged in a sequence that will be followed during the execution phase. Ideas for fundraising are brainstormed in the meeting and discussed with the project sponsor. It is decided that our team will use the following ways to raise funds and donations:
1. Online fundraising campaign
2. Bake sale event
3. Donations from friends and family
After the project plan is approved by the project sponsors, David Solomon and Julia Mccann we were ready to execute our project in full swing!

Project Execution
In the second phase of execution, our team had 5 weeks to raise funds and purchase/ collect goods for the donation. The target amount of $1000 was divided equally into five weeks, with each week’s target being $200. We started on 27th June 2022. Our communication manager conducted research on venues and other requirements for hosting a non-profit bake sale event in Ottawa. At the same time, the online portal for fundraising was also launched and promoted through social media and personal communication channels. We reached out to our friends and family members in order to raise awareness about the cause and raise donations for the same. We set realistic target for the project and adopted tools to measure our progress each week to check if the project is on track.
We expected to raise around 40% of the funds from online portal, 10% from Bake sale, and the rest through donations from friends and family. Our team, however, discovered a different, intriguing technique to solicit money for the project during the second week of execution. We contacted the store managers of numerous well-known Ottawa superstores, explained our project concept and asked them to contribute to our cause. Despite several denials, it was thrilling to see 5 such stores voluntarily agree to assist us and provide a total of $250 worth gift cards in support of our donation.
We started preparing for our Bake sale around week 3. In light of extensive research into different locations, policies, and permits for hosting a sale event, we unanimously selected Britannia Beach. Two team members took the responsibility to prepare and pack cookies and muffins to be sold at the event. Fliers regarding the project and AC food cupboard were designed and printed to be handed out at the event. The event was held on 17th July,2022 around 5-7pm. It was an extremely successful event with each packet of cookie being sold at $2.50. The event was a huge success, with an excellent sales result and a $100 profit raised.
It was satisfying to realize that by the end of Week 4 we were able to achieve our target goal of $1000 through all the sources. We acquired $340 through online fundraising portal, $100 through bake sale, goods worth $310 through friends and $250 through superstore gift cards.

Procuring Goods

While procuring items we ensured that we take advantages of discounts and employee benefits that are available to the team members. The goods were pegged at their original retail value for calculation. Each purchased item’s name, quantity, and cost were meticulously recorded in an inventory list after which an extensive quality check was done on the donated items by the quality manager.

Delivering the Donations

The final phase of the project began in week 5. The donations collected were finally submitted to the project sponsors on 27th July,2022 in Algonquin College campus. It was extremely satisfactory to realize that our team stood firm to the commitment and was successful in handing over the targeted donations on time.
The entire project was an excellent learning opportunity for the team. As we progressed through each stage, we faced different tests that challenged us to bring out our creative side. It is our hope that our efforts will make a significant difference in the student community, even if they are small. Project Fill the Shelves hopes to support the students in every way they can and wishes AC Food Cupboard continued success in their noble work.

Contact the Team

Gallery