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News Release

About Oregon Food Bank

Oregon Food Bank’s mission

To eliminate hunger and its root causes ... because no one should be hungry.

What is Oregon Food Bank?

Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of a statewide network of more than 915 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash. OFB recovers food from farms, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals and government sources. It then distributes that food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. Sixteen are independent charitable organizations. OFB directly operates the four regional food banks serving the Portland metropolitan area, southeast Oregon and Tillamook County. Those four centers distribute food weekly to more than 350 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs helping low-income individuals in Multnomah, Clackamas, Clark, Washington, Harney, Malheur and Tillamook counties. OFB also works to eliminate the root causes of hunger through advocacy and public education.

How much food does the Oregon Food Bank Network move?

Oregon Food Bank collected 30.7-million pounds of food during the last fiscal year (July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008).

The Oregon Food Bank Network collected a total of 57.7-million pounds of food (includes the 30.7-million collected through Oregon Food Bank).

Where does food for the Oregon Food Bank Network come from?

61% from the food industry

16% from food drives (including KGW’s Great Food Drive) and individual donations

13% purchased

10% from USDA

Where does revenue come from?

93% of the operating budget revenue comes from private sources. Only 5 percent of total expenses goes to fund-raising and administration.

Scope of problem in Oregon and Clark County

Each month an estimated 210,000 people ate meals from an emergency food box during the ’07-08 fiscal year and is increasing (see below) at an alarming rate.

Distribution of emergency food at record levels
Requests for emergency food are at record levels throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Distribution of emergency food boxes increased 15.5 percent in during the first nine months of the 2008-09 fiscal year, compared to the same period in the previous year. In Clackamas and Multnomah counties, distribution is up 16.5 percent. In some areas of the state, distribution has increased more than 30 percent.

Many new faces
Hundreds of new families are walking in the doors of local food pantries ... people who have never asked for help before ... people who just a few months ago had family-wage jobs and have been laid off. At the same time, the struggle just gets worse for our senior citizens on fixed and now declining incomes, the disabled and working poor.

Tip of iceberg
OFB believes this is just the tip of the iceberg. As the recession continues and unemployment benefits run out, OFB anticipates requests for emergency food in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., will surge for many months to come.

Households with children face greatest need

36% of those eating meals from emergency food boxes each month are children. (More than 75,000 children each month).

Hunger for children isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s dangerous

Children who are hungry have more trouble learning in school.
Early childhood hunger and malnutrition can result in irreversible health problems, such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney and heart disease, later in life.

One-million additional pounds per month
These sharp increases in demand for emergency food are stretching OFB and its network to the limit. To address the skyrocketing need, the OFB Network anticipates it will need an additional one-million pounds of food per month through continued support from the entire community.

To help