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A Simple Gesture is a door-to-door food collection program that provides a steady supply of food to help feed the hungry in the communities of Paradise and Magalia, California. |
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On a designated date every two months, food donors place their Simple Gesture/Green Bag filled with nonperishable foods on their front porch. Drivers pick up the Green Bags and deliver them to our four local food pantries. Volunteers at the food pantries receive the donations and add them to their food supply which helps feed the hungry in our Paradise and Magalia communities.
You can help by becoming a donor and/or a driver. How do I participate? Watch this video... |
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Become a Donor:
1. First of all, fill out the sign-up form so you get added to the pickup list. We will notify you when the next bi-monthly pickup date is. 2. For the first pickup, just use a sturdy grocery bag. You can fill it gradually with nonperishable foods by adding one item each week when you do your usual grocery shopping. 3. A week before pickup we will contact you via email, text, or phone call, with a reminder of the pickup date. 4. We will come by that morning between 9am and 12pm, pick up your full bag, and leave an empty, special Green Bag in its place. A tag hanging on the straps shows you the year’s bi-monthly pickup dates and food suggestions. 5. Your bag full of nonperishable foods will be delivered directly to one of our local food pantries. 6. If you need to make other pickup arrangements or change contact information, click on the "Sign Up or Make Changes" tab. You may reach us by phone at (530) 205-3067 or email [email protected]. Become a Driver: Drivers pick up the Green Bags every other month and deliver them to local food pantries. Picking up and delivering the Green Bags on your route only takes a few hours and is very rewarding. Complete the sign-up form if you would like to become a driver. |
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FOOD COLLECTION Keeping It Simple, the Green Bag Way |
A Simple Gesture-Paradise was born in December 2010 as a grass roots method to replenish food on the depleting shelves of local food pantries. Jon and Karen Trivers had seen this type of food collection in action up in Ashland, Oregon and decided with a little tweaking it was perfect for a community like the Paradise Ridge. The concept is simple. Local households sign up to be a food donor and receive a reusable “Green Bag” to fill with nonperishable food. On one Saturday every other month a volunteer driver would come by to pick up the bags filled with food, leave a new empty bag, and take the donations to one of the food pantries in Paradise or Magalia.
Information about the national Simple Gesture program can be found here: https://asimplegesture.org/.
Jon began speaking to every group that would listen to recruit food donors and volunteer drivers. Because of the simple nature of the program, people began signing up. The first pickup was in February 2011 with 335 donors contributing 5,000 pounds of food. Donor numbers doubled by April to 782, and then steadily increased to 70 volunteer drivers picking up over 1,800 bags from 1,665 donors and delivering over 23,000 pounds of food with every pickup. That was over 135,000 pounds of food annually, supporting five pantries to feed our hungry neighbors.
When the drivers delivered the food, there were over 100 pantry volunteers who emptied the bags, sorted the food and loaded up the empty shelves, ready for the next food distribution to families signed up on their supplemental food program.
In 2011, Jon and Karen reached out for help. Five volunteers accepted the role of "Sector Leaders" whose primary task was to organize drivers for a geographic area. Ed Doyle, a local database guru, signed up to design a software system to keep the donor information and driver routes secure and organized (our success is owed much to Ed’s expertise!).
Jon and Karen knew the sustainability of the program needed to rest with an established organization with local roots and commitment to the program; this is when California Vocations Inc. (CVI) agreed to take on the long-term responsibility to coordinate all aspects of the program. CVI, through its programs to support individuals with developmental disabilities, was involved with many local activities that support our community. This decision was a natural and received 100% support from their board of directors.
Bob Irvine, Executive Director of CVI, stated that the ownership transition was smooth between Jon and Karen Trivers and California Vocations. He added: “We enjoy being involved members of the feeding partnership between Simple Gesture, its many volunteers, and the Ridge food pantries.”
The Camp Fire of November 8, 2018, forced a hiatus in the entire Simple Gesture / Green Bag program that lasted for over two years.
In December of 2020, Bob Irvine issued an appeal: “It’s been 2 years since our last pickups were interrupted by the Camp Fire. To get back up and running in 2021 we will be looking for an organization who can take charge of running the program. This could be a school, a church, Paradise Rotary, Love Paradise, or something similar. We will be starting from scratch to order all the bags and supplies lost in the fire and recruiting new food donors, drivers, and team captains. But we have years of experience in knowing what needs to be done. Stay tuned!”
That’s when Paradise Stronger stepped up. Since that time, Paradise Stronger has taken charge of the Simple Gesture program and continues its full support. Over the past 2 years, bags and supplies were replaced; food donors and drivers have been recruited; and the program is steadily growing in size. Our latest Green Bag pick-up in November 2022 collected over 200 bags of food. Our December “Food For the Holidays / 7 Days of Giving” campaign brought in $3,000 cash which purchased almost 2,000 lbs. of food, supplemented by Grocery Outlet donating another 1,000 lbs. of food plus 48 turkeys, for a total of 3,780 lbs. of food delivered to four local food pantries.
We’re on our way!
Information about the national Simple Gesture program can be found here: https://asimplegesture.org/.
Jon began speaking to every group that would listen to recruit food donors and volunteer drivers. Because of the simple nature of the program, people began signing up. The first pickup was in February 2011 with 335 donors contributing 5,000 pounds of food. Donor numbers doubled by April to 782, and then steadily increased to 70 volunteer drivers picking up over 1,800 bags from 1,665 donors and delivering over 23,000 pounds of food with every pickup. That was over 135,000 pounds of food annually, supporting five pantries to feed our hungry neighbors.
When the drivers delivered the food, there were over 100 pantry volunteers who emptied the bags, sorted the food and loaded up the empty shelves, ready for the next food distribution to families signed up on their supplemental food program.
In 2011, Jon and Karen reached out for help. Five volunteers accepted the role of "Sector Leaders" whose primary task was to organize drivers for a geographic area. Ed Doyle, a local database guru, signed up to design a software system to keep the donor information and driver routes secure and organized (our success is owed much to Ed’s expertise!).
Jon and Karen knew the sustainability of the program needed to rest with an established organization with local roots and commitment to the program; this is when California Vocations Inc. (CVI) agreed to take on the long-term responsibility to coordinate all aspects of the program. CVI, through its programs to support individuals with developmental disabilities, was involved with many local activities that support our community. This decision was a natural and received 100% support from their board of directors.
Bob Irvine, Executive Director of CVI, stated that the ownership transition was smooth between Jon and Karen Trivers and California Vocations. He added: “We enjoy being involved members of the feeding partnership between Simple Gesture, its many volunteers, and the Ridge food pantries.”
The Camp Fire of November 8, 2018, forced a hiatus in the entire Simple Gesture / Green Bag program that lasted for over two years.
In December of 2020, Bob Irvine issued an appeal: “It’s been 2 years since our last pickups were interrupted by the Camp Fire. To get back up and running in 2021 we will be looking for an organization who can take charge of running the program. This could be a school, a church, Paradise Rotary, Love Paradise, or something similar. We will be starting from scratch to order all the bags and supplies lost in the fire and recruiting new food donors, drivers, and team captains. But we have years of experience in knowing what needs to be done. Stay tuned!”
That’s when Paradise Stronger stepped up. Since that time, Paradise Stronger has taken charge of the Simple Gesture program and continues its full support. Over the past 2 years, bags and supplies were replaced; food donors and drivers have been recruited; and the program is steadily growing in size. Our latest Green Bag pick-up in November 2022 collected over 200 bags of food. Our December “Food For the Holidays / 7 Days of Giving” campaign brought in $3,000 cash which purchased almost 2,000 lbs. of food, supplemented by Grocery Outlet donating another 1,000 lbs. of food plus 48 turkeys, for a total of 3,780 lbs. of food delivered to four local food pantries.
We’re on our way!
