Look hard enough and you’ll see it piling up in your car’s cup holder. Think hard enough and you’ll remember how it finds its way out of your pockets and into a long designated container, a make-shift catch-all for all those annoying remnants of your past day. We all have it and we all collect it. And as with anything else, no matter how small, over time it adds up.

This was the concept behind the creation of Gathering Change, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization that collects spare change from our communities for distribution back into our neighborhood food pantries and social programs.

“We were sensitive to what we were asking people,” said Dorothy Goodwin, founder and president of Gathering Change. “There are so many charities that ask for help from people on a daily basis. Contributing your spare change is a simple, sustainable way in which to donate to a worthy cause. Since we are asking for change, this allows everyone the opportunity to give.”

It's this mindset that enabled Gathering Change to become an organization easily embraced by anyone with a desire to be more involved in community service.

“Whenever there’s someone who wants to gather change, we are the organization for them,” Goodwin said. “We want to be everybody’s charity.”

Gathering Change is surely becoming just that, supporting many already established social organizations within the very towns that collect and donate change. Some of the targeted food pantries include the Reading Food Pantry, the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry and the Stoneham Board of Health Food Pantry located at the First Congregational Church in Stoneham, 1 Church St.

One of the key methods that help Gathering Change accomplish its mission to meet the basic needs of fellow citizens, as well as one of  its first successful initiatives, is the concept of hosting a Gathering Change party.

In its early stages, the opportunity to host a Gathering Change party came during an annual, week long collection campaign in the month of October. However, the overwhelming desire to help the organization changed that.

“What we discovered is that individuals wanted the flexibility to have gatherings when it was convenient for them,” Goodwin said. “Some people gather change at book club meetings, office parties, and teacher lunch rooms. Others use celebrations like birthday parties or holiday gatherings.”

So what happens once the party is over?

“After an event or collection we pick up the change and bring it right to the Saugus Bank to count it,” Goodwin said. “Their change counter machine - which I have named Buddy - sits in their lobby and is available for anyone to use. If you have an account with the bank, as we do, there is no fee.”

Every donation made, no matter how small, will make an immediate impact in your community. But how do the funds get to the respective local programs?

“Our bylaws state that the funds raised in your city or town stay in your city or town,” Goodwin said. “The funds are put into the appropriate city or town account.”

If your city or town doesn’t have its own specific food pantry the funds are sent to the closest food pantry that supports your community.

“We have a donation coordinator, Mary Taggart, who is responsible for searching out the right food pantry for each donation,” Goodwin said. “Most times it's clear, but recently we received a donation from someone in Boston and with all the food pantries and soup kitchens it was a challenge to find the right one. We chose the Women's Lunch Place where they feed women and children twice a day.”

Gathering Change parties aren't the only way to collect much needed funds in order to assist the 550,000 Massachusetts residents who don't know where their next meal is coming from.

“People can donate their money with the purchase of gift cards from Gathering Change,” said Judy Bousquin, the organization’s publicity committee chair. “They can thank and memorialize friends and family by making a monetary donation in a loved one's name.”

While always grateful for spare change, Gathering Change is happy to receive donations in all forms. Gathering Change has partnered with fellow nonprofit Just Give to allow donors to use their credit card to make donations.

“I recently delivered a check to a local food pantry," Bousquin said. “They were very excited about it because the extra funds give them the flexibility to buy specific items that may not be readily available at their supplying food bank.”

Strategic moves that Gathering Change made recently such as the partnership with the Feinstein Foundation has also leveraged its ability to raise funds more effectively.

“Lynnfield Middle School is doing a food drive for the month of March,” Goodwin said. “We call it 'Food 4 Everyone.' Grades 5-8 each take a week bringing in non-perishable food items. A percentage of the poundage collected is matched by the Feinstein Foundation's $1 million Hunger Challenge.”

It’s not all about money, however. Gathering Change has other goals on its agenda.

“We’re not here to just raise money,” Goodwin said. “We want to teach people and engage them in the facts. Facts that people, such as myself at one point, were not aware of.”

It's in this spirit that the collection events, and Gathering Change parties have served to meet the organization’s mission two-fold.

"The whole idea around the home parties was to bring neighbors together and build community,” Goodwin said. “To be able to talk about hunger face-to-face in a small setting has been a big reason for our success.”

For more information, visit the Gathering Change website.