A Simple Gesture receives $50,000 to deepen its RePurpose in High Point

The Foundation for a Healthy High Point awarded A Simple Gesture a $50,000 one-year Impact Grant to deepen its RePurpose perishable food recovery program in Greater High Point, and the Foundation also included A Simple Gesture among three $10,000 small grant recipients to provide refrigerators to High Point Schools as part of the SHARE program. The fall 2025 grant cycle totaled $1,778,075 and included 18 Impact Grants plus three small grants, the Foundation said in its announcements for the cycle.

The Foundation spelled out how A Simple Gesture will use the $50,000 Impact Grant: funds will assist with staff salaries, costs associated with an educational series, educational and promotional materials to develop new relationships with businesses and families, and program supplies to expand the RePurpose effort across Guilford County. Those line items indicate the Foundation intends the award to build both operational capacity and outreach capacity for perishable food recovery in High Point.

A Simple Gesture’s RePurpose work already rescues perishable food from grocery stores, caterers, schools, and businesses and rapidly moves that food to nonprofits serving meals to their clients or to the community, according to local reporting on the organization’s Food Recovery Initiative. The program also includes an educational component that teaches businesses and consumers how to prevent nutritious food from ending up in landfills. A separate $50,000 corporate gift reported by a local outlet from Honda should be considered an independent contribution unless the Foundation or A Simple Gesture confirms it is the same funds.

The Foundation’s fall awards list for the cycle included multiple other local organizations and multi‑year commitments: Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater High Point ($225,000, three years), Enlace Latino NC ($25,000, one year), Go Out For A Run (GO FAR) ($70,000, one year), Guilford Nonprofit Consortium ($145,000, three years and an additional $40,000, two years), High Point Discovered Inc. ($187,975, two years), High Point Regional Health Foundation ($150,000, three years), Housing Consultants Group ($100,000, two years), Lydia House Inc. ($30,000, one year), NCCJ of the Piedmont Triad ($32,600, one year), Operation Xcel ($150,000, two years), Reach Out and Read Carolinas ($22,500, one year), Ready for School, Ready for Life ($50,000, one year), Sister Circle International ($50,000, one year), The Barnabas Network ($50,000, one year), Triad Health Project ($150,000, one year), YMCA of High Point Inc. ($40,000, one year), and YWCA High Point ($120,000, two years.

Curtis Holoman, executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point, framed the awards as investments upstream of medical care: “These investments reflect the fact that health is shaped far beyond the walls of a doctor’s office. Whether we are strengthening food systems, expanding youth opportunity, supporting families, or building civic engagement, each of these projects addresses the social conditions that influence health and well‑being in greater High Point. Together, they represent a shared commitment to upstream, community centered solutions.”

The Foundation’s web materials note that the fall cycle included 18 Impact Grants plus three small grants, and that last year the Foundation funded 29 projects for $1,779,081; since its inception the Foundation has approved nearly $17 million to support the Greater High Point community. For A Simple Gesture, the combined Foundation grants - the $50,000 Impact Grant and the $10,000 small grant for school refrigerators - create a clear funding pathway to scale perishable-food rescue operations, staff outreach and education across High Point while equipping schools in the SHARE program to receive and safely store recovered food.