Give Back With a Snack, Est. 2017
Small actions of kindness can help many in need!
Give Back by the Numbers
Working towards a better tomorrow.
15+
involved schools around the Greater New England region
20,000+
snacks donated to local food pantries
5
associated food pantries
Thousands
of lives changed
Our Story
Working with schools and food pantries across New England, Give Back With a Snack aims to connect with students, reduce food waste, and give back to those in need. But why and how?
From a young age, Sia and Simi Gandhi had always been taught to be conscious of the food they wasted, as their parents grew up in developing countries. When they were seven years old, they traveled to their father’s hometown in Kenya, Africa where many of the community members lived under the poverty line. Sia and Simi knew they wanted to help, but did not know where to start. Then, in fifth grade, the girls noticed that many students tended to throw away unopened, uneaten, precious bags of food. They knew that this wasted food could have ended up in the hands of those who truly needed it. Sia and Simi wanted to make a change. This is what led them to start their non-profit organization, Give Back With a Snack.
In this program, a bin is placed in school cafeterias. Students who have non-perishable snacks that they do not want to eat or are going to throw away can put said snacks in the bin. At the end of every week, these snacks are donated to local food pantries for people in need to enjoy. Give Back With a Snack currently works with fifteen schools to reduce food waste, educate students, and give back. With further inspiration from their grandmother, the girls began visiting schools to teach students about food waste, food insecurity, and sustainability in an interactive manner. Over the past six years, student participants have donated over 20,000 snacks that would have otherwise gone to waste. To the Give Back With a Snack team, the most rewarding part of the program has truly been watching their participants grow, not only as students, but as community members as they develop empathy and work with their peers to give back to those in need.
How Give Back With a Snack Works
Education is vital to Give Back With a Snack. As previously mentioned, this program provides an alternative to wasting food by encouraging students to place unwanted non-perishables in a bin which are donated to food pantries every week. Simultaneously, these students engage in a hands on curriculum that aims to teach them about why reducing food waste and combatting food insecurity matters. We help students find the confidence to not only address these issues, but also to truly believe in themselves that they can make the world a better place, one act of kindness at a time. To learn more, please visit the "Programming at Give Back With a Snack" page.
Ways We Help
Meaningful work. Life lessons.
Give Back With a Snack targets three areas: reducing food waste, educating students, and giving back to those in need.
Reducing Food Waste
By providing students and teachers with a clean bin in which they can place unwanted snacks instead of throwing them in the trash, Give Back With a Snack redirects food items from potential landfill destinations into the hands of those who truly need them.
Educating Students
Programming at Give Back With a Snack (see more below) aims to provide students with an engaging and hands-on curriculum regarding sustainability, food waste, and climate issues. Give Back With a Snack truly believes that the students today are the leaders of tomorrow and it is therefore imperative that they are actively learning about issues that threaten communities and our planet. (Taken from Give Back With a Snack's Mission Statement and Agenda)
Giving Back
At Give Back With a Snack, we are dedicated to giving back to our local communities. Our student participants see the need in their communities and actively make a point to not only donate snacks, but learn about food waste and insecurity. In the past four years, student participants have collected donated 20,000 snacks and have learned that their small actions of kindness can help many in need.
Programming at Give Back With a Snack
More than just a charity.
At Give Back With a Snack, we truly believe our student participants today are the leaders of tomorrow. Our engaging programing curriculum aims to teach students about not only food waste and insecurity, but also how they can use small actions of kindness to take action and make a difference.
Contact Give Back With a Snack
Please send all inquiries, including questions about donations or how to get your school or workplace involved, to info@givebackwithasnack.org.
Thank you.