Business #144: Oregon Food Bank

By Warren Jimenez

Early this morning, as part of his outreach to businesses and working '100 Hours at Portland's Most Common Jobs' initiative, Sam helped a driver at the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) make his rounds.

The OFB is a hub of a statewide network of 894 hunger-relief agencies. It serves all of Oregon and Clark County in Washington.

Oregon Food Bank recovers food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals and government sources. It then distributes that food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. 17 are independent charitable organizations. OFB directly operates the 3 regional food banks serving the Portland metro area and southeast Oregon. Those 3 centers distribute food weekly to more than 300 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs helping low-income individuals in Clackamas, Clark, Multnomah, Washington, Malheur and Harney counties.

OFB also works to eliminate the root causes of hunger through advocacy, nutrition education, learning gardens and public education.

The number of people who seek emergency food in Oregon is unprecedented.

The Oregon Food Bank Network distributed 751,000 emergency food boxes in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005. That's a 4 percent increase over the previous year.

In addition, 170 soup kitchens and shelters provided 4-million emergency meals and 362 other agencies helped more than 128,000 people.

Those most likely to need emergency food are working families, the elderly, the retired, the disabled. They are your neighbors, and they need your help.

The OFB distributed 34 million pounds of food through our new Meyer Memorial Trust Oregon Food Bank Building in its first year of operation. That was 9 million more pounds than the previous year—a feat that was only possible because of our efficient new building.

For every $1 you donate, Oregon Food Bank can collect and distribute 6 pounds of food worth more than $7 and address the root causes of hunger through advocacy and public education.

Only 3.6 percent of expenditures goes to fundraising and administrative costs (revenue includes the value of donated food and other good and services).