The Story of A Simple Gesture Greensboro

History of helping feed hungry people
in Guilford County NC

Jonathan Trivers
‘People in the community were energized to help,’ says Mr. Trivers.

A Simple Gesture’s Story

A Simple Gesture” was started by Jonathan Trivers, who lives in Paradise, California. Jonathan is retired and was looking for a way to give back to his community. He and his wife started a not-for-profit to assist the food banks and food pantries in Paradise, California.

Jonathan believed that there was enough food in his town to feed everyone, but found that there was no easy way to get the food to the neediest people. Using his professional experience in marketing, he slowly and gradually came up with A Simple Gesture. As the word spread about the program, it was enthusiastically embraced by many citizens.

Paradise, California, is a small town of 35,000 people and about 14,000 households. There are now more than 1,700 food donors and numerous volunteer drivers who help collect over 132,000 pounds of food each year. In addition, over 65 communities across the country have now started A Simple Gesture in their towns. Jonathan spends a lot of time helping communities establish A Simple Gesture in their area and hopes hundreds of towns and communities will adopt the program.

A Simple Gesture-Greensboro has been established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and follows the template for food collection established by Jonathan. We believe that both the citizens and the civic community of Greensboro will also embrace A Simple Gesture as a simple but effective way to try to alleviate hunger in our city. We hope you will consider volunteering as a food donor, volunteer driver, or both!

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2011 Jonathan Trivers began A Simple Gesture in Paradise, CA
2015

Bob Biggerstaff A Simple Gesture Greensboro
June 2015– Bob Biggerstaff reads about ASG in the Wall Street Journal and introduced A Simple Gesture- Greensboro to Westminster Presbyterian; 180 families give at first pickup

December 2015– Corporate Kindness Program begins

2016

A Simple Gesture - How the Green Bags work

Summer 2016– Summer feeding programs began

A Simple Gesture Greensboro Green Bag
December 2016– Expanded to High Point
2017
2018

April 2018– Winner of Spark Award from Guilford Education Alliance for the Weaver Foundation’s Food Project

• May 2018- Community Foundation Gamechanger AwardMay 2018 – CFGG Game Changer Award

July 2018 – Created Hunger curriculum for student philanthropy

November 2018- Fox8 Nonprofit of the Year
November 2018– Fox8 Nonprofit of the Year
2019

January 2019 – Every school in Guilford County offered a program to make sure kids eat on weekends

Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro Future Fund 10 Award Finalistl
January 2019 – Finalist for Community Foundation’s Future Fund 10

Ready for School, Ready for Life to make sure all children 0-5 have access to food
February 2019– Partner with Ready for School, Ready for Life to make sure all children 0-5 have access to food

A Simple Gesture Greensboro
February 2019 ~65 ASG Chapters across USA

Extreme Nonprofit Makeover, a community give-back from TechTriad

March 2019 – Winner of Extreme Nonprofit Makeover