KBOO volunteers recently visited the Oregon Food Bank distribution center in North Portland to find out more about their efforts to end hunger. Food bank staff gave a guided tour of some facility highlights including the teaching gardens, the chicken coop, and demonstration kitchens. Volunteers contribute thousands of hours to support Food Bank activities, some of which are highlighted during the tour.
Plant a Row for the Hungry
Learning Gardens
Community FEAST | Building Food Security
The five-day festival features Charlie Musselwhite, Galactic and the Steve Miller Band to name a few of the national acts highlighting this year’s events. Concert goers are asked to donate two cans of food and ten dollars to see an entire day’s lineup at the Blues Fest.
The Oregon Food Bank’s mission is to eliminate hunger and its root causes, because no one should be hungry. Since 1982, Oregon Food Bank has led the fight against hunger in Oregon and southwest Washington by collecting and distributing food through its regional network of neighborhood food pantries and regional food banks.
The Oregon Food Bank Network helps nearly one in five households fend off hunger. The Food Bank also leads statewide efforts to increase resources for hungry families and to eliminate the root causes of hunger through advocacy, nutrition education, garden education and helping communities strengthen local food systems.
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Important information from the Oregon Food Bank website:
“As a result of growing levels of long-term unemployment, 260,000 people per month eat meals from emergency food boxes. Of those, 85,800 are children. For the first time ever, Oregon Food Bank distributed more than 1 million emergency food boxes in fiscal year 2010-11.”
“Growing levels of long-term unemployment have forced more and more people to seek emergency food assistance. 28 percent of adult emergency food box recipients are unemployed and looking for work, compared to only 20 percent in 2008.”
“A basic family budget — enough to cover the essential needs for a family of four — was $45,274 in 2007, while a full time job at Oregon's 2010 minimum wage provided only $17,500.”
- KBOO