About Hope Fest 4 Hunger

Mission: To unite and celebrate people of diverse cultures through shared dance to fight hunger in Guilford County.

Pandemic Challenge: Since 2020, our work, and our lives have changed in ways we could not even imagine…  Economic distress, with rising grocery prices and lingering unemployment, has led to 25% of families with children experiencing food insecurity.  Seniors are having to choose between medicine and groceries.  Together, let’s re-imagine our community as having abundant groceries for everyone!

Who We Serve: Hope Fest 4 Hunger directly benefits people in our community facing food insecurity, from children and families to adults of all ages. We partner with two agencies that fight hunger, A Simple Gesture (ASG), Greensboro Urban Ministry(GUM).ASG’s mission is “ending childhood hunger through a simple gesture of filling a grocery bag”. Through green bag donations in 2021, they are providing 350,000 meals distributed through Backpack Beginnings, Second Harvest, and 8 other food pantries.  GUM provides food assistance in addition to housing, helping individuals and families to change their lives. Since the pandemic began, they have increased food assistance from 5 x year to 52 x year, distributing over a million pounds of food, while still serving 300 hot meals every day onsite at the downtown center. 100% of proceeds from Hope Fest 4 Hunger go to provide the basic necessity of groceries to our neighbors in need!

What We’ve Done: Our first multicultural dance festival took place at First Lutheran Church on February 24, 2019, and raised $16,512 to fight hunger locally. The 2020 event was even more successful, attracting 350 attendees and donating $22,000 to hunger-fighting agencies.  During the worst of the pandemic, the 2021 virtual event was viewed by 400+ people and led to $24,000 donated to feed the hungry. We were thrilled to move Hope Fest to The Carolina Theatre in 2022. Even in the midst of the pandemic and having COVID protocols in place, Hope Fest 2022 had over 400+ people in attendance and raised over $30,000 to support Greensboro Urban Ministry & A Simple Gesture. In four years, Hope Fest 4 Hunger has donated close to $94,000 to fight hunger locally while sharing the rich diversity of many cultures within our community.