13-year-old Gracie Garbade has collected and donated over $31,670 and 12,050 pounds of food with the mission to help those in need.  

Gracie Garbade’s love for helping others grew from the age of 5 when she would see those experiencing homelessness on the street while driving in the car with her mom.  She felt the need to help; according to her blog, she asked her mom if she could go door-to-door collecting donations of canned goods for them. “Instead,” she says, “My mom and I came up with a plan to ask family, friends, and neighbors for donations, and that’s how Gracie’s Canned Goods began!” 

From those humble beginnings, Gracie’s Canned Goods has collected $31,670 and 12,050 pounds of food over five years, each year outdoing the previous. In the first year of operating just within the realm of family, friends, and neighbors, Gracie collected around 100 pounds of food. It has been a challenge for Gracie; to find new ways to increase outreach and the amount of food collected for those in need. The operation became an official 501(c)3 nonprofit in May 2018, which enabled Gracie to eclipse her original 2018 goal of 5,000 pounds of food – by a lot! That year, Gracie provided 22,878 meals to people in need. 

With ever-increasing goals set and exceeded year after year and simultaneously, as an ever-increasing number of sponsors join her cause, Gracie’s generosity and effort are on track to continue an upward, explosive trend to help those in need.