Hello Friends,

Wow, what a year 2021 was! I can't wait to share just some of the amazing highlights:

* In 2021, A Simple Gesture collected 446,000 pounds of nonperishable food. That's 558,000 meals valued at over $772,000. And it's all because of YOU!

* Our RePurpose food recovery program collected 114,938 pounds of perishable food. That's equal to 143,672 meals valued at $198,842.

* When you add all of that together, that's just short of a million dollars worth of food we all worked together to collect, recover, and donate to partners that serve Guilford County residents who are hungry.
* We added 900 new food donors. And for our every-month pickups, 352 families gave every single month—an option that didn't even exist the previous year!

* We added six new national chapters of A Simple Gesture, including one in Washington State, where sometimes they use boats to pick up green bags.

* We partnered with 14 pantries (several of which then give food to smaller pantries) for nonperishable food and 18 pantries for perishable food.

It's both humbling and amazing to write this. And of course everything we do is because of you—your commitment, your compassion, your generosity, your heart. From the bottom of MY heart, thank you!
President & COO
A Simple Gesture
Happening This Week: Hope Fest 4 Hunger
Plan to attend this wonderful multicultural dance festival on February 20 at the Carolina Theater. Hosted by First Lutheran and many generous sponsors, the event features dancers from around the world, a craft market, raffles, food, and more. Doors open at 1 pm and performances run from 2 pm-4 pm. All event proceeds go to A Simple Gesture and Greensboro Urban Ministries. Per theater guidelines, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required. Click here to get details or visit https://hopefest4hunger.org!
Coming Up: Attend the José Andrés Bryan Series Lecture with ASG
José Andrés in an award-winning chef and so much more. When a crisis strikes—typhoon, hurricane, earthquake, humanitarian disaster, climate disaster— Andres's World Central Kitchen Chef Relief Team springs into action to use the power of food to nourish and strengthen communities when they need it the most.

On April 26 at 7:30 pm, Andrés will speak at the Tanger Center as part of Guilford College's Bryan Series. A Simple Gesture will host a pre-event meetup at 6 pm at a downtown restaurant for dining and discussion. Then we'll walk over to hear the Andrés lecture. To purchase tickets to the lecture, visit the Tanger website at www.tangercenter.com/events/detail/jose-andres. To learn more about the pre-event meetup, contact Jan Swanton at jan@asimplegesturegso.org.
Photo credits to World Central Kitchen/WCK.org.
Time to Sign Up: Be RePurpose Food Recovery Driver
Interested in helping with RePurpose's incredible food recovery efforts? Attend the upcoming driver training and learn how you can help pick up fresh and perishable food from local businesses, colleges and schools, caterers, and restaurants and transport it to nonprofits serving meals to the community.

Training will be February 28 at 4 pm via Zoom. Contact RePurpose Director Laura Oxner at laura.repurpose@asimplegesturegso.org.
Look! ASG's Photo of the Year
This photo, snapped by Brad Bowers, Director of West End Ministries, perfectly sums up the amazing experience of an ASG drop-off. Look at all of that food! And it's all thanks to you. Our partner pantries shelves' are stuffed once A Simple Gesture has been there, and we hear again and again how appreciative they are. We want to make sure you hear it too: Thank you!
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