Hello Friends,
Green is the color of spring, from green leaves to green Earth Day events. Green also happens to be our favorite color. There's nothing more beautiful to me than row after row of green bags, filled with food for children and families!
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Last year you filled a lot of green bags, to the tune of 356,750 pounds of nonperishable food. That's 445,937 child-size meals valued at over $617,177! What's really amazing is that, despite the steep increase in grocery prices, you donated 10.8% more food than in 2022. Incredible!
And that's just for starters. In 2023 our ASG food recovery program collected 801,533 pounds of perishable food—food that might otherwise have ended up in the trash. That's equal to 1,001,916 child-size meals valued at $1,386,652—a 409% increase (Wow!!!). A portion of that increase comes from the fact that every Guilford County School now has a SHARE refrigerator—the first school district in the nation to do this! Students place any unopened cafeteria food (carton of milk, pack of carrots) in the SHARE refrigerator for any other student to take, no questions asked.
If you haven't seen our Impact Report, I encourage you to give it a look. You'll be in awe of how you and your neighbors worked together in 2023 to keep Guilford County children and families fed. I know I'm in awe of all you've accomplished!
Thanks for the many ways you're pitching in to end food insecurity. We can do this!
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PS: Did you know? This summer A Simple Gesture will celebrate nine years of feeding children and families. I'd say that calls for a celebration!
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America's Favorite Pet: Last Day to Vote for Izzie!
Sweet kitty Izzie is still in the running for America's Favorite Pet. And if she wins, A Simple Gesture gets a generous donation! Voting continues through today—Thursday, March 21 at 10 pm: https://americasfavpet.com/2024/izzie-6daa. As of now, she's in sixth place, so she needs your vote! Go, Izzie, go!
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Coming Up: Learn About Food Recovery at the Earth Day Celebration
Greensboro's annual Earth Day celebration will be bigger and better than ever—and A Simple Gesture will be there! The event is scheduled for Saturday, April 20 from 1 pm to 4 pm at Keeley Park, 4100 Keeley Rd., McLeansville. Stop by to learn about all things food recovery, from how recovered food helps fight food insecurity to the impact food waste has on our environment. Plus there will be prizes! See you there!
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Tag Correction: White and Orange Tag Pickup Is April 13
Yikes! Some of our bags have tags with an incorrect date on them for the April pickup. No matter what your tag says, our next white tag and orange tag pickup for West Greensboro, Jamestown, and the Greater High Point area is Saturday, April 13. We apologize for the confusion!
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April 1-7: Highlighting the Value of Food
A Simple Gesture is proud to be a partner in the 2024 Food Waste Prevention Week events. Watch our social media for some special features that week, including Food Recovery Director Laura Oxner's best ideas on using up leftover bagels and Leslie's tips for harnessing foods most often wasted. We're eager for you to share your tips and tricks as well!
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Ready for more? Here's another food waste event to take note of: Stop Food Waste Day is April 24. Get food waste facts on our website, the Food Waste Prevention Week website, and the Stop Food Waste Day website. (Be sure to check out the free digital cookbook!) Food waste is something we can all control. These events provide lots of opportunities for highlighting the value of food and making sure we're feeding not wasting!
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Did You Know? What the Farm Bill Means for Hungry Kids
A Simple Gesture keeps an eye on local, state, and national policies that affect hungry children and families. One of those is the Farm Bill that's pending in Congress. Despite its name, the Farm Bill doesn't just cover what crops farmers grow and how much they'll get paid. It also covers feeding programs such as TEFAP, which is important for food pantries, and SNAP, which used to be called food stamps. If you feel led to do so, click here to learn more about the Farm Bill and how to ask your legislators to keep this important bill moving forward. Hunger is an issue that can be solved!
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News From Our Partners: Big Thanks From Family Room!
When foster families take in new children, oftentimes they have no advance notice, which means they're scrambling for everything from cribs and strollers to clothing and food. The children typically arrive with only the clothes they're wearing; the foster family does not receive up-front financial support to purchase necessities for the child.
The Greensboro nonprofit Family Room assists with those needs, including food through a partnership with A Simple Gesture. A few days ago we got this lovely message from Carrie Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of Family Room: "Just yesterday we served two families with eight kids ranging from 8 years old to 17 years old. To be able to provide so much food was such a gift to those families. Receiving food from A Simple Gesture is making a huge impact on the families in our community." Thank you, food donors, drivers, and ASG friends for making this new partnership possible!
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Sending extra-special thank-yous to:
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The Hope Fest for Hunger team for an incredible event! This team plans an amazing day of multicultural dance, free to the community. Through generous sponsorships and other fundraising efforts, the event raised $34,000, which is shared by A Simple Gesture and Greensboro Urban Ministry. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hope Fest team!
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Walmart Stores #5393 on Alamance Church Road and #7206 on South Main St. in Archdale for grant awards.
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Greater High Point Food Alliance for awarding us a Food Security Award and for their ongoing support and leadership.
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The Valentine's Heartbreaker Relay & Marathon team for their enthusiasm, support, and generosity. We signed up new food donors, collected food, and received a generous donation from the runners at the race. Plus we had a blast. Thanks, too, to the volunteers who helped out on our behalf. If you're planning ahead, next year's race will be on Saturday, February 8 at Country Park in Greensboro.
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The Sprouts After School Program for making treat bags and a huge (and beautiful!) thank-you sign for our High Point drivers.
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Our friends at REMAX Realty Consultants at 2731 Horse Pen Creek Rd. for hosting an amazing food drive that filled our van. The grand total was 1,766 pounds of food!
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Culp and Carolina Container, for their very successful Share the Love food drives.
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Residents at Pennybyrn for visiting our office and helping to sort, tag, and fold over 800 green bags.
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YOU, for filling a green bag, volunteering to drive, sorting food as it's delivered, making a financial gift, liking our social media, and telling your neighbors about A Simple Gesture. Thank you for being part of the ASG community!
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Tips from Laura: What's for Dinner?
ASG Food Recovery Director Laura Oxner is a big believer in using every bit of food that's in the refrigerator. She's found the MyFridgeFood and Supercook apps to be a huge help. They're both free, find them in your app store!
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Volunteer Drivers Needed: April and May Pickups
Now's the time to sign up to drive a green bag pickup route in April or May. Click on the date to sign up!
Click here to sign up for
April 13th routes in
If you like to plan ahead, click here for pickup dates through the rest of 2024!
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From Our Sustainers: Be a Hero for Hunger
"For a long time I didn't realize that I could donate money to A Simple Gesture in addition to donating food. Now I fill my bag and I also send a monthly donation of $25. I know there are other things ASG needs to pay for, and I don't want any child to go to bed hungry." — Anonymous financial donor
Thank you to this donor and to all of our monthly sustainers. A gift in any amount — $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 — each month is a huge help to us. Learn more about monthly giving at asimplegesturegso.org/donate.
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Share this newsletter with your friends and family to increase awareness about local hunger and ways to help.
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