Signup To Help A Simple Gesture Collect Food For Hungry Families Across Northern Virginia

RESTON, VA — A Simple Gesture Reston recently received a $5,000 grant from the Closet of the Greater Herndon area to expand its food collection program in order to keep food pantry shelves across Northern Virginia fully stocked.

"The Closet is pleased to provide this grant to help A Simple Gesture Reston continue their impactful local food collection program,” said Gene Wiley, president of The Closet, in a release.

The way A Simple Gesture fulfills its mission of helping to feed the thousands of families who are facing food shortages every day is to drop off green bags at households across the area. Participating families fill those bags with non-perishable food items and place the bags outside their homes to be picked up by volunteers six times a year.

Currently, more than 1,500 families are donating food every two months. Thanks to The Closet's grant, A Simple Gesture will be able to purchase more bags, so that more families can participate in the food collection program.

"The point really is to just help our neighbors who are food insecure," said Bob Schnapp, who founded A Simple Gesture at the Shoreshim Jewish Community in June 2015. He came up with the idea after reading about a similar initiative in The Wall Street Journal.

"Somebody had started something in California and I'd been looking for something to do in food insecurity, and I said, 'Well you know, I think I can do this,'" Schnapp told Patch back in 2020. "So I asked my congregation for money to purchase Cool Green Bags and for some printing. We would make it as sort of a long-term social action project."

A Simple Plan's next scheduled collection day is Saturday, June 3. Starting at 8:30 a.m., volunteer drivers will begin picking up bags at households in Reston, Herndon, Potomac Falls, Great Falls, Vienna, Oakton, Wolf Trap, Chantilly, Sterling, and parts of Centreville and Fairfax.

For more information about how to participate, visit A Simple Gesture's website or follow the fact sheet below.

Fact sheet: How you can help

Who can participate:

A Simple Gesture collects food from Virginia neighbors in Reston, Herndon, Potomac Falls, Great Falls, Vienna, Oakton, Wolf Trap, Chantilly, Sterling, and parts of Centreville and Fairfax.

Which pantries does the food go to:

• Reston Cornerstones
• LINK Pantry in Herndon
• South Lakes High School Pantry
• St. Anne’s Episcopal Church Pantry

How to sign up:

Complete the Sign-Up Card online here.

What happens after signing up:

1. Each week when you go shopping, buy one or two extra non-perishable food items
2. Store them in your cool, green bag. You will receive two automatic email reminders prior to pick-up day.
3. On the first Saturday of every other month a volunteer will pick up the bag from your doorstep, leave another bag in its place, and take the filled bag to an area food pantry.

Other volunteer opportunities:

• Help Transport Food: Once every two months, on the first Saturday, help pick up the cool, green bags and deliver them to food pantries. (Children are encouraged to assist their parents.)
• Sort Food: On pick-up days, help to unload and sort the food at area pantries.
• Donate: If you wish to donate to the program, please make your check payable to: Shoreshim Jewish Community, P.O. Box 2516 Reston, VA 20195. Write: “For A Simple Gesture” in the memo section.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness of hunger in our local communities, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that 1 in 8 people face hunger. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.