ending hunger one bag at a time
What we do
We make it easier for large-scale recurring food drivers to happen.
We provide a system that does nearly everything to plan, organize and run these events.
Hunger and Food Insecurity are growing problems. We need bigger solutions, and we need them now.
The answer is neighbors helping neighbors. Nearly all of us have extra food we can share, and nearly all of us want to help. But how? In today's busy its not so simple to share that extra food.
Now it is as easy as 1-2-3;
- Register on JoinSG.org
- Leave a bag of food on your doorstep
- Volunteer drivers take it to your local food pantry where it gets to those that need it most.
The idea itself is simple, but imagine 1000's of people in your community all deciding to leave that bag of food on their doorstep. In Greensboro, NC over 4000 people are doing just that on the same Saturday morning each month. It's a logistical nightmare; 4000 donors, 250 drivers, and delivering to dozens of pantries in just 2-3 hours. And then do it again each month.
That's where we come in. We have studied it closely and figured out how to make it simple for not just the donor, but also for the drivers and the people running the programs. What used to take more than 50 hours to plan and organize now takes about one hour! Most chapters do everything they need to prepare for an event in just 30 minutes.
Our mission is simple; make it easy to be a donor or driver, and even make it easy to run a huge chapter collecting 50,000 pounds of food a month. If we can make it easy this program will spread nationwide, getting us closer to ending hunger and food insecurity right here where we live.
It is not a concept; it exists now, works well, and is growing fast. Please join us!
Why We Exist
SimpleGesture.org is 3 things;
- more food and better food
- solving the problem by spending less money
- bringing communities together to take care of neighbors in need
Many of you donate money to food pantries, they in turn use those dollars to buy food. They are good at it, and convert $100 into around $260 of food.
The problem is, once that food is consumed it’s gone and another $100 is needed.
What if, instead, we used that $100 to build a food machine? Something that could provide not just $260 of food, but over $3800 of food? That’s what SimpleGesture.org does. We are building a food machine.
As we explain this, we know you’re likely to think this cannot be true. If you want to long version, click here. But here’s the short version. Our purpose is to connect households that have food to spare to those in need. The food we bring in is free and our volunteer drivers are also free. It is a near-zero-cost solution to food insecurity.
It costs us about $18 to register and support one donor’s participation on our site for years to come. Historical data shows the average donor will provide over $700 of food during their involvement with us. Its really that simple, that is how to turn $100 into $3800 of better food.
Why is the food better? We attach a “needs list” to every reusable bag we give to the donors, and we know by their 3rd donation nearly all the food in the bag matches to the needs list. We target high nutrition foods, the same foods your local food pantries have to buy. Many of the pantries we support no longer buy food, they don’t need to.
That’s why we exist. More food and better food. We have a program that is built around cost efficiency to get the job done long-term. We don’t need the government to fix this unacceptable problem, we just need you.
TWO TYPES OF PROGRAMS
Our ASG Web App handles two ways to engage donors; picking up food or bringing food to a community center.
PICK UP EVENTS: We start off with donors and drivers not needing to know each other. As they register our software determines optimized routes for each driver. Once things get going we know those same drivers want to pick up from the same donors. This happens because people want to form a community around helping others. Over time we convert those drivers into "Neighborhood Coordinators" that then take care of the area near their home.
BRINGING FOOD IN: We also know a school, church, business or club also wants to create a "Community Circle". This is where our software reminds people to being their donation in on a day and location specified by that group.
The Hidden Problem that SimpleGesture.org solves
Its not about the calories, its about the quality of food
Food Banks and pantries do everything they can to help your communities thrive. But have you toured one? On average, 70% of their food is high sugar and it's for a very good reason. This is the food your local grocery stores need to dispose of.
Many states have laws that fine grocery stores to throw away food. The reason isn't what you may expect; it's to reduce methane emissions at land fills. Food waste produces methane gas. To alleviate the problem the government fines grocers. The fix is to ship that food to Food Banks and Pantries. The problem is, for the most part these expiring foods are not healthy. Donuts, cakes, muffins, and fruits make up more than 70%.
People on food assistance are two times more likely to develop diabetes and other serious food-related health problems.
And for us, there is an even bigger problem. One in three single mom families are food insecure, relying on these foods. Children will not rise out of their situation if they are eating unhealthy food. And equally important; a child's self-esteem is greatly affected by obesity and poor diet.
A SIMPLE GESTURE targets healthy foods. And because these pickups are recurring (monthly or every-other-month) the donors really care what goes into the bag. It's not a 'pantry clean out', its donors that want to help people that need assistance get out of their situation.
Many pantries we serve no longer need to buy food. They get all the healthy "center of plate" food they need from this program.
We need to do more than just give people calories, we need to help them get the food needed to thrive.
The SG WEB APP
Route Optimization
Driver Communication
Donor Communication
Making things simple can be complicated. One way to do it is to”least mile routing“ for the drivers picking up the food donations. We use the same technology as UPS, FedEx and other world-class fleet programs.
Donor Communication
Driver Communication
Donor Communication
Every Donor is asked before every event if they can participate. A quick click of a button confirms they will have a bag out, or if we need to skip them this time around.
Driver Communication
Driver Communication
Driver Communication
About one in 6 donors agree to drive during the registration process. A day before the event they receive their routes. Each route has a button for ‘turn by turn“ directions. The Event Manager can monitor progress across all drivers real-time and make adjustments if needed.
Campaigns
Help Guides
Driver Communication
Signing up donors is everything. Chapters create “sign-up campaigns”. We provide a Site Page dedicated to each one. These are customized to reflect the ‘grass roots local information” donors want to see. QR codes and URL links provide quick tools for donors to access the Campaign Pages.
Reporting
Help Guides
Help Guides
The ASG Web App tracks data to help make better decisions. Event Managers can see which Campaigns were most effective, which donors leave out bags and which often forget. And we provide tools to fix these problems as they arise.
Help Guides
Help Guides
Help Guides
Donors, Drivers, and Chapter Administrators get “Quick-Start Guides” along with more detailed guides to cover everything. We even use AI tools to answer any questions.
Proud to be sponsored by one of the great food companies in the world!
