Hunger Action Month: Simple Actions Your Family Can Take

By Guest Blogger Leslie Loyd

When you think about a food pantry, what do you picture? Shelves filled with canned food? Boxes of food ready for pickup? A choose-your-own shopping area? Shelves that are empty?

All of these images are correct. Our area has dozens of food pantries, and each is a little different. Some started operating as drive-throughs during COVID and have continued that model. Others are set up like small grocery stores, with baskets and carts and the ability to choose the foods your family likes best. And sadly, while many pantries start their distribution with full shelves, the significant need for food right now means they typically end with shelves nearly empty. 

All of our food pantries have one thing in common: They need your help. September is Hunger Action Month—the perfect time to pitch in and help lift the burden of hunger from local families. Getting involved can be a simple way to model compassion for your children and build a habit of helping. 

Here are a few ideas on how you and your family can get involved:

• Share the latest hunger statistics. Many people are unaware that need is surging and food pantries in our area are struggling to keep up with demand. As grocery prices have risen over the last several years, families are finding that their incomes haven’t kept up. And that means they’re making heartbreaking choices about whether to pay for food, housing, transportation, childcare, or medical care. Children feel the impact. Kids in Guilford County have a food insecurity rate of 17.8%. Forsyth County follows with a 16.8% rate, and Alamance county has a 15.3% rate. Children who are hungry tend to have behavior issues in school and aren’t prepared to learn.

• Donate a bag of food every other month—we’ll pick it up from your front porch. A Simple Gesture provides green reusable grocery bags that you fill with nonperishable food. Then on a designated Saturday morning, you put your bag of groceries on your front porch. A volunteer picks up the bag and takes it (along with many others) to a local pantry. To sign up in Guilford County, click here. To sign up in Alamance County, click here. To get on the list to be notified about a new Forsyth County chapter opening soon, email asimplegesturegso@gmail.com.

• Hold a food collection drive. A Simple Gesture provides food collection bags or bins. Once the food drive is complete, we’ll pick up the food and take it to one or more local pantries. To learn more, for Guilford County contact asimplegesturegso@gmail.com. For Alamance County, contact dan@hope4nc.com. Get your neighborhood, faith community, Scout troop, school, PTA, or social club involved!

• Learn about cutting food waste. Did you know that approximately 40% of food in the U.S. never gets eaten? That’s about 400 pounds of food per person each year. If you work in food service or own or manage a restaurant or food-related business, you can safely and easily donate leftover food to nonprofits serving meals to clients and the community. To learn more about perishable food donation procedures and options, visit A Simple Gesture Food Recovery or contact Food Recovery Director Laura Oxner.

Families in our area need extra help right now, and food pantries are struggling to meet the need. Make Hunger Action Month the time that you and your family take action to help. If we each do a little, together we will do a lot! Learn more at A Simple Gesture.

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