September 2022 • Hunger Action Month
Message from the Director
I flew to Southern California a week ago and had to stop in for a coffee in what is a very affluent area. When I walked to the counter, to my surprise there was a “Hunger Action Month “flyer hanging where you had to place your order. My mind, maybe like yours thought, “Of all the places in the world that should not be advertising about hunger, is here”. And yet, I was told, “you would be surprised.” Hunger has become a nationwide challenge.
The story is most radically seen in the increasing numbers of homes of Oregonians with two incomes that are coming to the pantry. For example, Julie’s family now utilizes the drive-through pantry on a weekly basis. Her husband works during the daytime, and she works in the evenings so he can be home with their 4 kids. She states, “I’m determined not to have my kids placed in the “system” because we can’t afford them. I grew up in the system, so I know what it’s like and I will do whatever I have to keep our family together.”
Currently 1 in 5 Oregonians suffer from food insecurity. Due to the significant economic disruptions and global food and fuel supply shortages, we are dealing with the worse rate of hunger in a century.
At the POBC Pantry we are clearly on track to surpass the 45027 individuals that we fed in 2021 seeing that as of the end of July 2022 we had fed 31602 of our neighbors.
We are aware that these numbers represent the trust our community has in us. Your donations are to be vital to our continued steady growth in numbers. We are absolutely committed to ensuring our neighbors have the healthy food they need to keep going as we all wait for better economic days.
Hunger action month is a time where individuals and organizations volunteer, bring awareness, and give donations to support the community wide effort of ending hunger. The cost of groceries is up over 10% and low-income families spend 1/3 of their income on food.
Donating to our pantry today can help us with the monies needed to pay for the rising cost of food the pantry is purchasing every week.
When our pantry was much smaller, the food donations we received from our partners were enough to provide our community with the protein and fresh fruits and vegetables they needed. Those days are long gone, and your one-time donation or monthly donations can help us provide for families who are doing their best to keep at bay the creeping feelings of anxiety and fear that haunts them.
There are many new and amazing things happening at the pantry that you will hear about next month. But this month, hunger is at the forefront. How desperate are people for food? Here is an example:
As many of you know, every month we have a free food market distribution. It happens the second Wednesday of the month, when the Oregon Food Bank provides us with fresh fruits and vegetables to be given out. The distribution begins at 10:00AM. I received a phone call on the day of the distribution this month. It came because one of our workers had arrived at the pantry to begin working before 6:30AM. The sun was just rising. Seeing several people on site standing in a line, he became concerned about why they were there. After calling, he was informed there was a good possibility that they were there for the free food market, and they were.
Please give today during “Hunger Action Month” as we partner together to tackle the challenges of hunger our families face.
