Oregon Food Bank

🤔 Have you ever stopped to think through what causes food insecurity? A significant root cause of hunger is poverty. Did you know? 👉 Poverty, itself, is driven by systems of oppression — racism, sexism, classism and more. This means we cannot solve hunger with food alone. 👥 Solutions to hunger and its root causes start with people — people who are most impacted by racial, gender and economic injustices. Those most impacted by hunger are best equipped to define the problems of hunger and its solutions. That’s why the Policy Leadership Council (PLC) — a statewide governing body led by over a dozen individuals impacted by hunger and its root causes — shapes the vision for Oregon Food Bank’s policy and advocacy work. ✊ Representing urban, rural and small-town communities, the Council brings local leadership and lived experience to ending hunger at its root. 📲 Visit https://lnkd.in/gKmK5qiM to review our vision, solutions and current action to make food justice a reality.

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance: "an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence." (Source: glaad.org/tdor) The incoming federal administration has promised actions that will cause harm to our primary equity constituencies — including trans and gender expansive communities. In this moment, we are reminded that we cannot end hunger with food alone. The system is working exactly as intended — our primary equity constituencies are much more likely to experience hunger because of their race, gender identity, being a single parent or where they were born. Those factors alone make it more likely to face housing discrimination, health and wage disparities, skyrocketing childcare costs or barriers to safety net programs like SNAP (formerly known as food stamps). At Oregon Food Bank, we commit to center those who most disproportionately experience hunger across our service area in ways that honor and value each other and our lived experiences. The disproportionate rates of food insecurity faced by trans and gender expansive individuals in Oregon highlight the urgency of targeted support and the need for transformative change. 🫂 Resources: Translifeline: https://translifeline.org/ Transgender Law Center: https://lnkd.in/gNWeKsd Oregon-specific, legal rights: https://lnkd.in/gdsfrKuP Centering Gender Expansive Communities to End Hunger: https://lnkd.in/gnTNFsgd 💫 Artwork by tdor.co

📍 Exploring our community’s food assets is more important than ever, and Oregon Food Bank is leading the charge! With the Map the Meal Gap initiative, we’re working to visualize food insecurity across Oregon and Southwest Washington. In 2023 alone, our network saw 1.9 million visits to food assistance sites—a 14% increase from 2022. By highlighting disparities in food access for communities disproportionately affected by food insecurity, including Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color, immigrants, single parents and gender-expansive individuals, we can better allocate resources and ensure everyone has access to the support they need. Want to learn more about how food maps are making a difference in our communities? Read the full article to discover how this innovative tool can help us tackle hunger together! Modern Farmer Feeding America #OregonFoodBank #FoodInsecurity #MapTheMealGap #CommunitySupport #EndHunger https://lnkd.in/gxMPJCjC

⚠️ If you or someone you know depends on food pantries and meal sites, contact your pantry ahead of time to ensure their operations are not impacted by the severe windstorm. 🌬️ There is a severe weather advisory related to tomorrow's predicted wind throughout the Greater Portland/Vancouver Metro, Central and Southern Willamette Valley, and Lower Columbia River and Cowlitz River Valleys. This may or may not impact local deliveries tomorrow. To find free food near you visit OregonFoodFinder.org.

The core of our belief is that everyone deserves the right to food. It’s a simple concept: fairness. Your support helps ensure that we’ll never stop working to share food with everyone who needs it while working to break down barriers that prevent equal access to our basic human rights. Your support ensures that food reaches those in need and helps drive the movement toward equal access for all. Please donate today. https://bit.ly/3Csi41D

🎉 Now, more than ever, we must celebrate and elevate the extraordinary work our community contributes each and every day. Be inspired by Oregon Food Bank's Tillamook organizer, Janet Orozco Ortiz. Janet is the powerhouse who organized TWO community workshop events in both Spanish and English. Tillamook Headlight Herald shares, "The event gained significant local support from Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar and Senator Suzanne Weber. Senator Weber, who attended unexpectedly, offered her support for Food for All Oregonians, earning cheers from the crowd.." 💯 Food for All Oregonians seeks to ensure that every Oregonian, including immigrants and refugees, has access to food. Read more from Tillamook Headlight Herald about this monumental moment. https://lnkd.in/gBkc2-Hs

Food banks around the world agree that volunteers are a critical part of our work! Thank you to CoreGiving for bringing together volunteers in Oregon and beyond for CoreGiving Day 2024. Let's grow food justice for ALL! 👥

💚 Now more than ever is the time to lean into the important work of food justice! We've reached our attendee goal for our in-person skill-building and strategy summit, but it's not too late to join us in this work! 💻 If you want to help us win Food for All Oregonians this upcoming legislative session you can still join us for our Virtual FFAO Strategy Summit, happening December 3, 2024 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM PT! Food for All Oregonians envisions an Oregon where all people have access to food no matter our immigration status. Register at https://lnkd.in/gdHPKn5g.

When we share food, a family can eat. But when we help build community, dozens of families can be more food-secure for a lifetime. Your gift helps keep the food flowing at pantries and food sites across our state and feeds the movement for change. Please donate today. 🔗 https://bit.ly/3Csi41D

Many food bank leaders arrive at the position because they have a background in fundraising or sometimes finance or banking. Healthcare and the military also mark the pathways of some leaders. For Andrea Williams, the newly named President of Oregon Food Bank, the throughline is her focus on racial and economic justice. Born and raised in Oregon, Williams is descendant from three generations of farm workers who came from Japan and the Philippines to work on sugar cane fields in Hawaii. Their experiences inform her identity as a person of color. A job at the food bank was not an obvious fit. Williams first spent about ten years working at an immigrant rights organization on policies aimed at improving the lives of Latino immigrants and their families. In that work, the food bank was never on her radar screen. Then, during the pandemic while working for the City of Portland, Williams noticed Oregon Food Bank starting to support pro-immigrant legislation. The food bank contributed about $300,000 in unrestricted revenue toward the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, established during the pandemic to ensure support for undocumented people who couldn’t access federal relief. “I was like, ‘What’s going on at Oregon Food Bank?’” Williams said. "I got really interested. That large chunk of money was one of the first concrete ways I saw the food bank show its values and take action toward racial justice." Read the entire powerful introduction of our new President, Andrea Williams, written by Chris Costanzo at Food Bank News. https://lnkd.in/e_366_NU