Oregon Food Bank: Ending Hunger for Good

At Oregon Food Bank, we believe hunger is not inevitable. Hunger is the result of policy choices. The mission of Oregon Food Bank is to eliminate hunger and its root causes, because no one should be hungry. We work every day to connect people with food now while building community power to end hunger.

This past quarter, that community power showed up in towns and cities across Oregon. From Tillamook to Ontario, our organizers, volunteers, and community leaders gathered at festivals, workshops, and meetings to connect people with food and with each other.

In September, more than 130 people joined our Ending Hunger Power Night to learn how youth are fighting for food justice. The evening spotlighted youth leaders and youth-led organizations creating change in their own communities. In Ontario, we tabled at Ontario Pride alongside a youth leader. We also co-hosted a two-day Know Your Rights workshop Pueblo Unido, which a member of our Policy Leadership Council led to support the local immigrant community.

We also reached new communities! For the first time, our team tabled in Southern Oregon, at El Mercadito, hosted by Coalicion Fortaleza. This year’s theme was Arte Nos Une, or Art Unites Us, and the event brought together more than 40 BIPOC-owned businesses. We also returned to El Grito, one of the largest celebrations of Mexico’s Independence Day in Oregon. At each event, we shared Food Finder information so families know where to find free food, and we invited people to join our endeavor to end hunger.

Community leaders are also bringing their voices directly to decision-makers. Two leaders from Tillamook joined staff at our Tillamook Branch for a meeting with Rep. Javadi, where they shared their personal stories and urged his support for anti-hunger priorities. To keep growing this kind of leadership, we are launching an Organizing Academy, a series of four workshops running from October through May. The Academy centers partners and leaders who live and work in rural and small-town Oregon, where access to resources and organizing support can be harder to find. This builds on our broader rural work. Out of a rural and small-town mapping project led by Oregon Food Bank, a new rural organizing cohort is forming with partners including Coalición Fortaleza, Oregon Rural Action, PCUN, Rural Organizing Project and South Coast Health Equity Coalition, and our team is helping the group develop shared goals and strategies.

We are also growing our team on the ground. This summer we welcomed Jess Moran, our new Rural Strategies Organizer based in Central Oregon, and Emilio Chavez, our new Rural Strategies Organizer based in Southwest Oregon. These new roles expand our capacity to organize with people and partners in more communities across the state.

Additionally, there was good news for families who rely on SNAP. In September, a federal judge in Oregon sided with Oregon and 21 other states, ruling that the federal administration acted illegally when it tried  to penalize states for approving SNAP for many lawful permanent residents. It is a reminder that policy choices shape who can put food on the table and who can’t.

Your support makes this possible. Because of you, Oregon Food Bank can meet people where they are and build community power in communities across the state. Together, we can show that hunger is a policy choice. And together, we can choose a future where every person in Oregon has enough to eat.