Welcome! click the button to register now!
WE ARE…
.. a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that provides everything needed to start up and run “recurring food drives”. Usually every month or every other month.
You can donate from home or bring your food to a community gathering. "A Simple Gesture" makes it easy for you to make a difference!
How A Simple Gesture Works; Its a simple as 1-2-3
It all starts with someone in a community starting a Chapter. Once a Chapter is set up, here's what happens;
- DONORS REGISTER: They click a QR code or a web link, or just find the way to this web page. They provide their name and address, and let us if they also want to drive from time to time. Takes less than 2 minutes to register.
- Donors and Drivers get an email or text alerting them as the next event date approaches; they respond "yes" or "no". Takes moments.
- On Event Day drivers receive their route to pick up the food following google maps turn-by-turn instructions.
- When our volunteer driver picks up the food, they leave behind a reusable bag (optional) and an info card with a "Needs List" and the next pickup date.
That’s it! ….. It's very simple. Donors love it because it is a convenient way to help their community. Drivers love it because they can see the difference they are making as they drop off bags full of nutritious foods to pantries.
Our goal is for the Chapter Administrator to love it. We do this by providing the software to do most of the work. The ASG Web App handles all the donor/driver communications, routing, and even uses AI to answer most questions.
TWO TYPES OF PROGRAMS
Our ASG Web App handles two ways to engage donors; picking up food or bringing food to a community center.
PICK UP EVENTS: We start off with donors and drivers not needing to know each other. As they register our software determines optimized routes for each driver. Once things get going we know those same drivers want to pick up from the same donors. This happens because people want to form a community around helping others. Over time we convert those drivers into "Neighborhood Coordinators" that then take care of the area near their home.
BRINGING FOOD IN: We also know a school, church, business or club also wants to create a "Community Circle". This is where our software reminds people to being their donation in on a day and location specified by that group.
The Hidden Problem that A SIMPLE GESTURE solves
Its not about the calories, its about the quality of food
Food Banks and pantries do everything they can to help your communities thrive. But have you toured one? On average, 70% of their food is high sugar and it's for a very good reason. This is the food your local grocery stores need to dispose of.
Many states have laws that fine grocery stores to throw away food. The reason isn't what you may expect; it's to reduce methane emissions at land fills. Food waste produces methane gas. To alleviate the problem the government fines grocers. The fix is to ship that food to Food Banks and Pantries. The problem is, for the most part these expiring foods are not healthy. Donuts, cakes, muffins, and fruits make up more than 70%.
People on food assistance are two times more likely to develop diabetes and other serious food-related health problems.
And for us, there is an even bigger problem. One in three single mom families are food insecure, relying on these foods. Children will not rise out of their situation if they are eating unhealthy food. And equally important; a child's self-esteem is greatly affected by obesity and poor diet.
A SIMPLE GESTURE targets healthy foods. And because these pickups are recurring (monthly or every-other-month) the donors really care what goes into the bag. It's not a 'pantry clean out', its donors that want to help people that need assistance get out of their situation.
Many pantries we serve no longer need to buy food. They get all the healthy "center of plate" food they need from this program.
We need to do more than just give people calories, we need to help them get the food needed to thrive.
The ASG WEB APP
Route Optimization
Driver Communication
Donor Communication
Making things simple can be complicated. One way to do it is to”least mile routing“ for the drivers picking up the food donations. We use the same technology as UPS, FedEx and other world-class fleet programs.
Donor Communication
Driver Communication
Donor Communication
Every Donor is asked before every event if they can participate. A quick click of a button confirms they will have a bag out, or if we need to skip them this time around.
Driver Communication
Driver Communication
Driver Communication
About one in 6 donors agree to drive during the registration process. A day before the event they receive their routes. Each route has a button for ‘turn by turn“ directions. The Event Manager can monitor progress across all drivers real-time and make adjustments if needed.
Campaigns
Help Guides
Driver Communication
Signing up donors is everything. Chapters create “sign-up campaigns”. We provide a Site Page dedicated to each one. These are customized to reflect the ‘grass roots local information” donors want to see. QR codes and URL links provide quick tools for donors to access the Campaign Pages.
Reporting
Help Guides
Help Guides
The ASG Web App tracks data to help make better decisions. Event Managers can see which Campaigns were most effective, which donors leave out bags and which often forget. And we provide tools to fix these problems as they arise.
Help Guides
Help Guides
Help Guides
Donors, Drivers, and Chapter Administrators get “Quick-Start Guides” along with more detailed guides to cover everything. We even use AI tools to answer any questions.
Proud to be sponsored by one of the great food companies in the world!
