Stanwood Camano Food Bank Adds A Simple Gesture Page Explaining Roles, Integration

The Stanwood Camano Food Bank’s website now includes an A Simple Gesture program page explaining local use of the ASG green bag model, how donors sign up, and what volunteers do on pickup da, according to the original site note. That addition brings a nationally replicated doorstep-donation program into the food bank’s public-facing guidance for donors and volunteers.

A Simple Gesture traces back to Paradise, California, where local organizers framed the door-to-door collection model. Paradise Stronger records that “A Simple Gesture-Paradise was born in December 2010 as a grass roots method to replenish food on the depleting shelves of local food pantries,” and credits Jon and Karen Trivers with adapting the idea after seeing similar collections in Ashland, Oregon. A separate local page for PACS described the origin slightly differently, stating “’A Simple Gesture’ was started in 2011 by Jonathan Trivers in Paradise, California.” PACS also says the model “has been replicated by over 70 chapters nationwide.”

The green-bag mechanics are consistent across chapter guidance. Asghelps instructs donors: “The program is called ‘A Simple Gesture’. You register on their website. They send reminders for the first pick-up date (November 8th). You leave a bag or two of shelf-stable pantry foods on your doorstep by 9:00am. Their volunteers pick it up and take it to a nearby Hunger Relieve Site (called a ‘pantry’).” PACS lays out the sequence for volunteers and donors: “Fill the ASG Bag with needed food items. Leave the ASG Green Bag outside your door on a designated pick up day. Volunteers will pick up the ASG Green Bag at your home and leave an empty one for the next pick up. Once collected, our volunteer drivers take the filled Green Bags directly to PACS. Food from the Green Bags help stock the shelves at PACS to serve our community.”

Local chapters provide operational detail on driver and sorter duties. Norwell guidance tells volunteers to “Invite your local Food Pantry administrator to your initial meeting (at least) to understand what their needs are, how you can help them keep a steady supply of food, and to learn who else might help with the effort.” Norwell also directs volunteers to “Bring a scale to weigh and record each bag. Use this information for future marketing. Our bags averaged 15 pounds consistently so we stopped weighing after a few pickups and just counted bags, extrapolating weight.” Sorters are warned that “Sorters should expect to check expiration dates as you local Food Pantry does not want expired food,” and coordinators should “Remind drivers of their routes: remind them to call 2 – 3 days before pickup” and “Deliver replacement bags to drivers.”

Chapters report measurable results. Paradise Stronger says “Our latest Green Bag pick-up in November 2022 collected over 200 bags of food.” Paradise Stronger also totals a December holiday drive: “Our December ‘Food For the Holidays / 7 Days of Giving’ campaign brought in $3,000 cash which purchased almost 2,000 lbs. of food, supplemented by Grocery Outlet donating another 1,000 lbs. of food plus 48 turkeys, for a total of 3,780 lbs. of food delivered to four local food pantries.” At the national level, Asghelps notes that “last year it resulted in more than 4.5 million pounds of food going to people in need.”

Sign-up and campaign tools vary by partner. PACS asks participants to “complete the sign up form” and notes new registrants will be added to the next pickup date on a Google Calendar. The national ASG pages offer a toolkit and say “we provide all the tools you need for a successful collection: collections boxes, flyers and social media graphics.” Asghelps describes a paid partner model for outreach, writing that “A ‘Campaign’ is where you are given a unique QR code and URL that can then be used by anyone to register. You will be given a report on status weekly so you can see how you’re doing, and you’ll be paid when that donor participates in the event. The first event is November 8th,” and that a “Campaign Project Manager’s role is to register new donors for ‘A Simple Gesture’ by using a variety of methods covered on this page. You will paid for results, and the amount can be substantial.”

Stanwood Camano’s new page places the local food bank within that established playbook: chapter-origin stories, driver and sorter tasks, bag-weight tracking, calendar-based pickups, and national toolkits have all been used by Paradise, Norwell, PACS and other communities as they scale door-to-door collections.