OUR STORY
Our organization began after Anacortes resident Sue Monaghan read an article about the first 'A Simple Gesture' in Paradise, CA, founded by Jonathan Trivers. She was inspired to start A Simple Gesture-Anacortes and began collaborating with the largest food bank in Anacortes, The Salvation Army. Shortly thereafter, a Board of Directors was established, bags were ordered and donors and volunteers were sought with her daughter, Kristin Rogers, by visiting every organization in the area. The response from the community was amazing. The first pickup was October 10, 2015, with 310 donors and 4,000 pounds of food and toiletries collected. Today ASG-Anacortes has over 700 donors and has collected over 260,000 pounds of food and toiletries.
That's the impact that a simple gesture can do!
OUR MISSION
As a non-profit volunteer driven organization our mission is very simple:
Feed the hungry in Anacortes.
How do we do this? Simple.
Every other month, volunteers spend the second Saturday morning driving through town collecting Red Bags filled with food that donors leave on their front porch. That food is brought in, weighed, sorted and packed for distribution to various food banks, the Anacortes Family Center, Food to Go and our Red Bag Pantries located throughout the city. The majority of food goes to The Salvation Army, which has the largest food bank in Anacortes. It is through collaboration with various agencies in town that we are able to collect and distribute food to those in need.
The demand for food at the local food banks has increased over the past ten years, but the supply of low cost foods has been decreasing. The local food banks are forced to purchase food in order to stay open during the summer months. ASG-Anacortes has helped address this need.
THE IMPACT
Shelves before pick-up days
Shelves after pick-up days
That's the impact that a simple gesture can do!