Dear Jan,

When I come to work each day, my to-do list is overflowing with tasks I love. I love working with volunteers, I love speaking to groups, I love helping to shape policy, and I love knowing that children and families in Guilford County are getting the food they need not just to survive but to thrive. I have the best job in the world!

One thing that many nonprofit directors don't love is fundraising, but I love that too. Why? Because our supporters make it easy. Every year you come through with the funds we need to buy the green bags, put gas in the van, buy the food recovery supplies, pay the rent, pay our staff, and keep the lights on. Every day we are grateful for the amazing support of our green bag food donors, food recovery partners, drivers and other volunteers, financial supporters, and ASG friends. Your commitment to our neighbors and your compassion — even at a time when food prices are high — demonstrate how much you care, and my heart overflows with joy!

Our annual year-end appeal letter is hitting the mail soon. We're grateful for the many ways you support A Simple Gesture — filling your green bag, spreading the word about food recovery, volunteering to be a driver, telling your friends about ASG, posting on social media, becoming a monthly financial donor, and making a year-end gift. A gift of any size — $5, $50, $500, or $5,000 — is a tremendous help in making sure children and families get the nutritious meals they need.

November is a season for gratefulness. Please know that we are grateful for you, today and every day. Happy Fall!

A Simple Gesture is part of TWO amazing races this month — and you can join in the fun!

The Greensboro Half Marathon & 5k features a half marathon, 5K, and 1-mile fun run. Our ASG team will be running the 5K, and we're also looking for volunteers to help with packet pickup on Nov. 21 and 22, plus course monitoring on race day (Nov. 23), start/finish line tasks, and taking care of the ASG table.

• To race that day, sign up here.

• To volunteer with the race, sign up here.

• To volunteer at the ASG table, sign up here.

It's just TWO WEEKS away!

A Greensboro Thanksgiving tradition, the Running of the Turkeys features a 3.5-mile run/walk and a 1.6-mile fun run/walk. We're looking for volunteers to help with packet pickup on Nov. 26 and 27, plus race day (Nov. 28) setup, water stops, and more. It's a great way to get your Thanksgiving off to an amazing start!

• To run/walk that day, sign up here.

• To volunteer, sign up here.

Easy Holiday Gift: Order Your Honor Cards

Knock out your holiday gift list the easy way with honor cards from A Simple Gesture. Submit a list of people whom you'd like to send cards in honor of, their addresses, and your donation. Then we'll fill out the cards and mail them from our office, letting the recipients know a donation was made in their honor. What a simple and thoughtful way to send good wishes during the upcoming holiday season!

To order honor cards online, click here.

To submit your list via email, contact asimplegesturegso@gmail.com.

Food Recovery: On the Road to Pittsburgh

Food Recovery Director Laura Oxner was a featured presenter at the 53rd North American Environmental Education Association conference in Pittsburgh earlier this month. Laura was there to share how Guilford County Schools handle excess cafeteria food — and how other districts can do the same! The conference had over a thousand attendees from 30 countries.

We estimate that friends of A Simple Gesture sent over 55,000 pounds of much-needed food and other goods. While the road to recovery is a long one, thanks to you we were able to jump in quickly to start the process of helping and healing for our Western NC friends.

Newest Food Recovery Partner: Center for New North Carolinians

We're pleased to partner with the Center for New North Carolinians. Affiliated with UNCG, the center provides employment services, tutoring, translation, and much more to help refugees and immigrants navigate the systems in their new home.

Sending extra-special thank-yous to:

• The Lewis Gives group from North Carolina A&T, who made a huge difference at the warehouse for our November 9 pickup!
• Sedgefield Women's Club, which hosted an incredible food drive.
• Leadership Greensboro for continuing to support ASG both through projects and food drives.
• Sales Factory, which dedicates 24 hours to doing pro bono projects for nonprofits every year. This year ASG received special birthday brochures and a banner!
• Greensboro Women's Club, which hosted a hugely successful food drive.
• Southwest Elementary, which has each grade level taking charge of a monthly food drive. In October kindergartners kicked things off by collecting canned fruit, applesauce cups, and fruit juice. In November, first graders are collecting peanut butter and jelly.
• Northwest Boys' Lacrosse Team, for distributing ASG door hangers to recruit new food donors.
• Page High School, the STEM Early College at North Carolina A&T, and the Early College at Guilford, which are collecting food for school-based food pantries and local food pantries.
• Destiny Church and Oak Ridge Baptist, for amazing support and wonderful food collections.
• Jewish Family Services, for choosing a food drive as a special project during the High Holy Days this fall.
• The Center for Creative Leadership, for getting competitive and hosting a food drive among work teams.
• Agiliti Health, for holding a super-creative food drive. They built their donated food into a train!
• Flow Mazda, for filling those green bags, zoom zoom!
• The Now What? widows and widowers group, which helped prepare over 1,600 green bags for 2025. Wow!
• On behalf of our food recovery team, thank you all for highlighting the value of food. Food isn't trash, and wasting food has a major impact! Feeding not wasting is something we can all work on every day.
• YOU, for filling a green bag, doing food recovery, volunteering to drive, sorting food as it's delivered, making a financial gift, liking our social media, decreasing food waste at home, and telling your neighbors about A Simple Gesture. Thank you for being part of the ASG community!

Double Your Impact: Help Us Get Matching Funds

An anonymous local business is providing a generous matching grant on Giving Tuesday, which this year is on December 3. Make your donation that day, and they'll match it! Make a gift online at www.asimplegesturegso.org/donate or via Venmo at @ASimpleGesture. We appreciate your support!

From Our Sustainers: 

Be a Hero for Hunger



"It seemed like every time there was a green bag pickup, I was out of town. Instead of having to miss so often or drop my bag off later, I switched to making a monthly gift. Now I know my donation will be right on time, every time." — Anonymous financial donor

Thank you to this donor and to all of our monthly sustainers. A gift in any amount — $10, $20, $50, $100 — each month is a huge help in getting children and families the food they need.