This month, A Simple Gesture won the Greensboro Volunteer Center‘s Outstanding Nonprofit of the Year award. This is what they read about A Simple Gesture:

[su_testimonial]In two short years, A Simple Gesture has made major waves to end the cycle of hunger in Greensboro and Guilford County.  A Simple Gesture asks donors to fill a grocery bag with food and leave the bag on their front porch or take the bag to work. More than 400 volunteers have helped pick up the bags, leave a new bag, and deliver the food directly to Backpack Beginnings, Out of the Garden, Greensboro Urban Ministry or Jewish Family Services.  A Simple Gesture has collected nearly $600,000 worth of food for their partners since June 2015 and has worked with partners to feed kids throughout the summer and Christmas holidays.

They also have worked with the Weaver Foundation, Guilford County Schools, Guilford Education Alliance, Backpack Beginnings and Out of the Garden to put a weekend food program into every school in the county. A Simple Gesture believes that our community can end hunger, but first, we must give every child the tools they need to live healthy, curious lives, and a pathway to good employment opportunities.  This is the most basic need to have a healthy, thriving community. Today over 3,000 households donate food through A Simple Gesture every other month, proving that as a community we can care for each other with just a simple gesture.[/su_testimonial]

The growth of A Simple Gesture has certainly made waves in the community.  Foundations, such as the Weaver Foundation, the Community Foundation, and Lincoln Financial Foundation, to understand that hunger and poverty should be a community priority.  Schools across the county are making student nutrition a focus – from the superintendent to the kids in kindergarten who are donating and/or receiving food. The City of Greensboro has mobilized their departments to donate food and their facilities to provide food to families on a daily basis.  Local universities are educating students on the effects of hunger and poverty and urging their students to volunteer their time and talent to local food nonprofits.
Your collective giving has been seen and heard. You have made it clear that hunger will not be accepted in this community. That in our home, we take care of each other. Thank you for being such a hero.