Across more than 125 Chapel Hill and Carrboro neighborhoods, residents are doing something remarkably simple every month: leaving food donations for neighbors who help move them where they’re needed.

Maybe there’s a paper bag sitting outside someone’s house. Maybe somebody in your neighborhood sends an email once a month asking for cereal, pasta sauce, oatmeal, or canned goods.

It looks simple. In this day and age of Instacart and DoorDash, a bag on the porch does not look that out of place.

But it is nothing short of significant.

PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro was built around a remarkably uncomplicated idea: neighbors collect food from neighbors, and those small contributions become something much bigger.

September is Hunger Action Month, and PORCH says the demand locally continues to grow. The organization now provides groceries to more than 800 families each month and distributes food to more than 15 smaller local pantries.

More than 125 neighborhoods across Chapel Hill and Carrboro participate in monthly food drives, collectively bringing in roughly 10,000 pounds of nonperishable food in a typical month.

Learn more about Hunger Action Month at PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro.

And this isn’t just canned goods.

PORCH uses donations to purchase fresh meat, eggs, milk, and produce for families, including options like Halal chicken, soy and almond milk, and tofu. Its Food for Families program lets participating CHCCS families who are having trouble affording groceries shop once a month for fresh and nonperishable food.

Learn more about the Food for Families program.

That matters in a county where PORCH says roughly 13 percent of residents experience food insecurity.

Learn more about how PORCH helps.

What I like about the PORCH model is that the entry point is almost ridiculously accessible.

You don’t have to launch a fundraiser.

You don’t have to join a board.

You don’t need a free Saturday.

Sometimes you literally put groceries on your porch.

And somebody else takes it from there.

Since its founding in 2010, PORCH says it has provided more than $8 million in hunger relief in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community.

Read more about PORCH’s mission.

If you want to participate, PORCH is currently seeking food donations, volunteers, neighborhood coordinators, and financial support. Their September wish list includes everything from cereal and oatmeal to protein and fresh-food purchases.

Sometimes “community” is an abstract word.

Sometimes it’s a bag of groceries waiting by somebody’s front door.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education meets tonight, with the public session beginning at 7 p.m., and transportation is back on the agenda.

The district acknowledged significant problems at the beginning of the school year that left hundreds of eligible students without expected bus assignments.

In a September 3 update, CHCCS said roughly 300 additional students had since been added to morning and afternoon routes, while staff continued working through unresolved cases individually.

Read the CHCCS transportation update.

Tonight, board members are expected to continue discussing the transportation problems and consider formally excusing absences connected to the bus disruptions.

The board will also receive an update on elementary-school redistricting planned for fall 2027.

Worth watching if you have a child in the district.

A warm congratulations to Bruce and Sarah Vance, co-founders of Town & Country Cleaning Services, who announced at Wake Up Wednesday that they are stepping into semi-retirement after more than three decades of building and serving the local community through the business they founded together in 1991.

As they shared at Wake Up Wednesday, ownership has now transitioned to longtime team member and business partner Jonathan Lorbacher, who will carry Town & Country Cleaning Services into its next chapter.

Bruce won’t be disappearing completely, though. He plans to continue teaching and sharing the cleaning-industry knowledge and experience that have made him a familiar face well beyond Chapel Hill.

Congratulations to Bruce and Sarah on a well-earned new season, and to Jonathan as he takes the reins.

Visit Town & Country Cleaning Services.

There’s something I like about the PORCH model.

It doesn’t start with somebody asking, “How do we solve hunger?”

It starts smaller.

“What can I put in this bag?”

Big community problems rarely disappear because one person does something enormous.

More often, they get a little lighter because a lot of people decide to do something manageable.

Maybe that’s worth remembering.