Frequently Asked Questions

What is It’s Spooky to be Hungry®?
It's Spooky To Be Hungry® is a grassroots, all-volunteer, primarily neighbor-to-neighbor food drive which takes place throughout October, but primarily on or around the 4th Saturday in October. We bring hundreds of adults and children together in fun, brief, significant, community-building volunteer work, as we help fight hunger and feed the needy.

Spooky has no employees, pays no salaries, and keeps none of the money we raise directly from our projects to cover administrative costs. We are a service project of the non-profit corporation, Big Changes Start Small, Inc.®.

What is this year's date for the Spooky Collection?
Each year It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® takes place on and around the fourth Saturday in October. Our target collection date this year is October 27, 2007. Contact us to get involved.

What is our mission?
Our mission is to strengthen our communities through working to fight hunger. In all of our work, we refer to our Core Values, which you can find on the Mission and Core Values pages of our website. Take a moment to learn more about the central values that inspire and guide us.

Where is It’s Spooky To Be Hungry located? And what is “the CSRA”?
Spooky’s flagship chapter is located in the Augusta, GA and Aiken, SC region, also known as the “CSRA”, or Central Savannah River Area. The CSRA is a large region centered around both sides of the Savannah River, in Georgia and South Carolina. Spooky has additional Chapters in cities throughout the Southeast. If you are interested in bringing Spooky to your hometown, contact us.

How Does Spooky Work?
It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® provides all the central training, orientation, and essential materials a local organizer needs to get a new Spooky chapter started in his or her community. Once a chapter is established, the basic Spooky collection is as follows: Each participating neighborhood has its own captain, who coordinates volunteers and collection. Prior to collection day, flyers describing the specifics of the upcoming food drive are distributed to each home. On collection day, teams of volunteers go door-to-door gathering donations of food and money. Contributions are brought to a central location in the neighborhood, where the food is weighed and stored briefly until transport to the local food bank. A Celebration Weigh In of the total collection usually takes place soon after the collection is completed, to give an inspiring closure at the conclusion of a successful event.

In addition to collecting in neighborhoods, many people get involved with Spooky by organizing Spooky food drives in their school, business, civic organization or faith community. Guidelines fully describing neighborhood collections are available to all new captains. Contact us to learn more about the specifics of this fun and satisfying project.

Where Does My Donation To It’s Spooky To Be Hungry Go?
Every single cent of your donation to It's Spooky To Be Hungry® goes to help fight hunger. We distribute the entire proceeds of It's Spooky To Be Hungry® through local food banks and pantries, keeping not a single penny to cover our administrative costs. The recipients of our donations (local food banks and pantries) pledge in turn to use all of our support solely for the purchase of food. We keep our administrative costs very low and cover those expenses through separate fundraising done by our parent non-profit organization, Big Changes Start Small, Inc®. Contact us for more information or to donate to help cover our operating expenses.

How did It’s Spooky to be Hungry get started?
Spooky began in 1992 with only a handful of volunteers -- adults and children – first in one neighborhood in Rochester, Minnesota, and then in three suburban neighborhoods in Columbia County, just outside Augusta, Georgia. The growth of this neighbor-to-neighbor drive has been remarkable, and in 2002, Spooky reorganized and incorporated as a tax-exempt non-profit corporation, under the name “Big Changes Start Small, Inc.®”

It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® won national recognition in 2004 through USA WEEKEND magazine, as one of the ten best Make A Difference Day volunteer projects, chosen from thousands across the United States. By 2006, It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® had become the largest grassroots service project in the CSRA, involving over 2700 volunteers across a ten county area of Georgia and South Carolina. The 2006 drive collected over $56,000 and more than 106,000 pounds of food, translating into over 300,000 meals for CSRA needy. In addition, Spooky Chapters were active in 12 communities in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia. Click here to see growth record.

The phenomenal success of the Spooky CSRA Chapter moved us to form a local partnership with (regional) Golden Harvest Food Bank in 2006. This partnership allows Spooky CSRA to continue to grow, without having to invest in and duplicate expensive services. Golden Harvest and Spooky CSRA remain independent entities and all proceeds of the Spooky drive continue to be spent solely on the purchase of food, with no deductions for administrative overhead made by either organization.

Who is our staff?
Our collections are carried out entirely by volunteers. Without exception, from our Board of Directors through our Administrative Staff and throughout our neighborhood, business, and school volunteers, every Spooky participant donates his or her time and energy to help make the project a success. In Augusta, Georgia (Spooky CSRA), due to the very large size of the project the local volunteer corps receives supplemental support from paid staff at the regional food bank (Golden Harvest Food Bank). Contact us to learn more about the many volunteer opportunities available.

What is the "Celebration Weigh In"?
We encourage every chapter to have a Celebration Weigh In each year after their Spooky collections. At the Celebration Weigh In, all volunteers are invited to join together to see the total mass of food that they have helped to collect. See information about the CSRA Celebration Weigh In to learn more about this fun and inspiring event.

What is Big Changes Start Small, Inc.®?
Incorporated in 2002, Big Changes Start Small, Inc.® (BCSS) is a 501-c-3 tax-exempt not for profit charitable corporation that believes in its name. Our mission is to help strengthen community through the development of volunteer-based service projects. BCSS projects bring together diverse people in the spirit of building interpersonal bridges, developing altruism, and making a positive difference.

At this time, BCSS sponsors two main service projects. It’s Spooky To Be Hungry®” is an annual food and monetary drive that takes place each October. Proceeds are donated to local food banks. “Hope Soap” is a clearinghouse for the collection and distribution of personal care items and toiletries. Distribution to recipients is done largely through local social service agencies. Through BCSS, supporters are able to tax-deduct their charitable donations to the It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® and Hope Soap projects.

How do BCSS, Spooky, and Hope Soap cover operational costs?
Big Changes Start Small ® never uses any of the money raised by our projects to cover operating costs. We are able to cover those costs by:
1. Keeping any incidental costs of running our projects as low as possible;
2. Having nearly all work done by volunteers;
3. Maintaining a very low overhead, with no paid staff and no office;
4. Working to get many of our needed services (such as printing, legal services, bookkeeping and accounting) donated or underwritten by generous local supporters.
5. Doing additional fundraising, separate from our projects, through individual donations and small grants. All donations to Big Changes Start Small ® are charitable deductions to the full extent of the law. If you would like to make a donation to help us with incidental expenses, please contact us.

What are the biggest expenses in putting together It’s Spooky To Be Hungry?
We are a “barebones” operation, with very, very low overhead. The largest potential expense for any It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® program is in reproducing the flyers that are distributed in each participating neighborhood. In the Augusta, Georgia Spooky chapter, this expense is absorbed by a generous printing company (Allegra Print and Imaging).

Another optional, but significant expense in the Augusta chapter is the production of Spooky tee shirts which Spooky CSRA provides free to every new captain and at cost to any other volunteer who wishes to have one. Additional expenses are relatively small and largely reflect optional expenses. These potential expenses range from the costs of correspondence to hosting an annual appreciation event (luncheon or coffee, for example) for neighborhood captains and Spooky staff.

How Can I Be Part of Spooky?
Get involved! There are so many ways to be a part of Spooky. You can start a new chapter in your community. In a community where Spooky is already in place, you can volunteer to work in a neighborhood or get your own neighborhood involved. You can contribute non-perishable food or money to Spooky, or you can make a special donation to Big Changes Start Small®, helping offset our costs to administer Spooky. Our volunteers work only a few hours, but together, they make a real difference in their communities. Contact us to learn more about the opportunities for you or your family to join in this fun, meaningful volunteer effort to make a difference!

Why should I start a Spooky chapter in my community?
It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® is a nationally-award winning and uniquely successful project that builds community while fighting hunger. It is fun and easy, and brings together adults and children in a positive and meaningful activity. It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® is a volunteer opportunity that actively incorporates children into the event, where family members of any age can do meaningful volunteer work together. When you organize a Spooky food drive, you will help feed the hungry, give children an opportunity to be involved in good works, and help build a network of caring and service in your community.

How do I start a Spooky chapter in my community?
Contact us to get more specific information about beginning a Spooky chapter. We are excited by the possibilities for “growing” Spooky in communities wherever there is an interest. Through our more than a decade of work in Augusta, Georgia we have gained a great deal of practical experience. We will provide you with complete information – materials, guidelines, and support – to help you start a Spooky project in your community. Our volunteer staff is available via email and the telephone to answer all your questions. We have written guidelines and suggestions available that will make your Spooky experience fun and rewarding.

Does a Spooky chapter have to be large, like the project in Augusta, Georgia?
Absolutely not! A successful Spooky chapter may have only a few collection sites, and may remain small throughout its existence. A successful Spooky chapter is one where volunteers feel positive and excited about the work they are able to do, and feel committed to the difference they are making in their community. We believe that “Big Changes Start Small® ”, and that even a small It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® project can provide real benefit both to those who receive its proceeds, as well as to those who organize and volunteer ins it.

What makes Spooky different from “just another food drive?”
It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® has a two-part mission: to strengthen community through working to fight hunger. We believe it is our emphasis on community-building which gives our project its vitality and success. We build community in a variety of direct and indirect ways, among them promoting volunteerism, providing leadership development opportunities, giving children and adults meaningful volunteer experience together, and building bridges between diverse parts of our larger community. If you would like to know more about what inspires and guides us, we encourage you to take a few moments and read through our core values.

It’s Spooky To Be Hungry® is a service project of the non-profit charitable corporation of Big Changes Start Small, Incorporated (BCSS). We hold trademarks for our corporate name (Big Changes Start Small), the Spooky name (It’s Spooky To Be Hungry) and our logo (a ghost holding a grocery bag.) For more details on BCSS, click here.