A Simple Gesture Partners With Heartbreaker Marathon to Boost Green Bag Food Collections

A Simple Gesture's partnership with the Valentine's Heartbreaker Marathon & Relay at Country Park in Greensboro delivered a concrete result: 40 new food donor signups, plus contact leads for potential donors outside the area who could be connected to an ASG chapter near them.

The Guilford County nonprofit, which operates under the name ASimpleGestureGSO, served as the official charity partner for the annual race organized by Junction 311 Endurance Sports. The arrangement gave ASG two collection windows, early packet pickup and race day itself, where supporters could drop off food items or give monetarily. One restriction applied to in-kind donations: no glass.

Junction 311 structured the partnership to move people off the sidelines and into active support. Every runner who was already an ASG food donor could claim a $10 discount off new race registration, with the discount code supplied by ASG after confirming program participation. Existing participants could request their code at asimplegesturegso@gmail.com; anyone without an ASG chapter nearby could reach out to contact@asimplegesture.org.

The volunteer side of the deal carried its own incentives. For every person who volunteered on ASG's behalf, Junction 311 made a donation directly to A Simple Gesture. Volunteers also received a race hoodie and an ASG t-shirt. Tasks included handling race day materials, packet pickup, parking lots, the hospitality tent, and water breaks.

"We are excited to partner with the local non-profit A Simple Gesture," the race organizers wrote on the event page. "Their mission is to engage the community to provide a sustainable supply of food to local food pantries and food banks in Guilford County."

ASG's model centers on the green reusable grocery bag: neighbors, businesses, and faith communities fill them, volunteers collect them, and the food moves to ASG's pantry partners across Greensboro, High Point, and Guilford County. The program was founded by Jonathan Trivers in California in 2011 and has since grown to 65 chapters nationwide, with the Greensboro operation also supporting other cities looking to establish their own programs.

The Heartbreaker race was one piece of a broader winter push for ASG. The organization's newsletter noted that Fleet Feet and the Greensboro Half Marathon had previously collected food and recruited green bag donors during their own race, and a slate of local organizations hosted food drives in the weeks leading up to the holidays. That list included Pennybyrn, Davis Heating & Air, NC Fusion, High Point University's Admissions Department, Haven Salon, Dudley High School's HOSA and NSBE clubs, Edward Jones on Old Plank Road, Southwest Elementary, Sagewell Health & Fitness, North Carolina A&T, Greensboro Sports Performance, ASG Driver Dawn Brinson, and the International Furnishings & Design Association.

The 40 new donor signups attributed to Heartbreaker participants represent fresh additions to a neighborhood-level collection network that depends on consistent, recurring participation rather than one-time donations. The race page noted that some signups came from outside the immediate area, leaving open the possibility of future connections to ASG chapters elsewhere in the country.