St. Andrew Club Giving Project

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Members of the St. Andrew Club, here’s a way for you to make your pledged gift online!

Click here to make your gift through our secure online form.

You may change or cancel your pledge at any time by calling Brenda at 800-333-4597.

Your gifts bring people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors.

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The St. Andrew Club Giving Program was established in 1986 by William Schminkey and Fairlington United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Its purpose, then and now, is to provide passionate partners the opportunity to make an ongoing commitment to share healthy food with their hungry brothers and sisters right here in the United States, by becoming a member of the St. Andrew Club.

This program started as a simple and sustainable way of donating to The Society of St. Andrew in support of the mission to share good, nourishing food with families in great need. It began as a giving club by interested and passionate volunteers at Fairlington UMC. It evolved into a program that also trained volunteers to speak about the mission to reduce waste and end hunger, all across the state of Virginia.

These trained volunteers and donors would lead speaking engagements at community events and church services. They would explain the importance of the mission to end hunger, how people could get involved by making a pledge, and how SoSA could help maximize their impact on the local community. Once a pledge was made, donors would receive “call” letters two times each year inviting them to send in one-half of their pledged gift amount each time. Members of the club handled all the mailing and recordkeeping, freeing the Society of St. Andrew’s staff to focus on food recovery and distribution. Within a few years, the Fairlington St. Andrew Club was raising $80,000 each year to support SoSA’s mission..

As times have evolved, the need has increased, and the opportunities to share good food have become more frequent. In recent years, SoSA has begun a new, monthly giving program called 12 Baskets.

This program is based on the story in scripture about Jesus feeding the 5,000. A child’s lunch miraculously multiplies to feed everyone present, with more food leftover. Jesus instructs the disciples to collect the leftovers, saying “Let nothing be wasted.” In all, each disciple fills a large basket with the miraculous abundance: 12 disciples; 12 baskets of good food.

Whether you prefer to give just one time, once a year, twice a year, or even monthly, the idea behind 12 Baskets is simple. Calculate a token amount of money for every meal you eat and choose to share that amount with The Society of St. Andrew so that others may enjoy the gift of good food, just like you. As you give, pray also for those in our land who would love to have such good food on their plates. 12 Baskets allows you to automate your donation so that the amount you choose is deducted from your bank account on the schedule you set. The mailing costs that are saved can be used to feed even more hungry people!