Global Engage

Early this spring, our school had a guest speaker come to talk about the Oregon Food Bank. The Oregon Food Bank is a non-profit organization which survives on grants and donations. Located in Oregon, it serves more than 86,400 meals to children every month. However, it is not only the children that it serves. One out of every four Oregonians miss meals due to the lack of money and food. Also, about four years ago, Oregon was rankend as the state with the most hungry, out of the entire nation. Due to a newfound awareness, it has fallen back down to the low thirties. The speaker told us that the food donations primarily come from Washington and Oregon. He also talked about the shortages that food banks are going throught in this time of economic crisis. As the gas prices went up, the extra wheat and rice (Western US)  were turned into gasoline. This meant that there was no surplus to be donated to the food banks.

The Oregon Food Bank recieves donations primarily through food markets. Once an item's sell by date has passed, the store gives it the Oregon Food Bank. This can have it's drawbacks though. For an instance, one time the Oregon Food Bank lost a whole trailer of food due to company recalls. The other 40% of food is recieved through other means, such as buffets. 30% of the food at buffets is not eaten, but only 5% of that food can be picked up by volunteers. Out of all the money donated, 95% goes to food purchases. The other 5% is used to cover the costs of the administration. In the last year 93,000 volunteer hours were used, saving 1.5 million dollars. The Oregon Food Bank also has nutritionists who teach people how to get the best use out of the food they are given. Volunteers also work in demostration gardens, showing people how to grow food in their own gardens.

In this time of economical crisis, more andmore people have been losing their jobs. This creates a shortage of money, leading to a shortage of food because they just can't afford it. Also, children don't function very well at school when they are hungry. After the Oregon Food Bank began sending food to a certain school, the students performed a lot better, a significant improvement from when they were always hungry. Children are not the only ones who need a full diet. 54% of Clackmas County citizens needing food aid are the seniors and the disabled. The seniors' scocial security paycheck is not enough to cover all their food costs. 10% of the people served are homeless, a small number compared to the 40% of people served that are under the age of 18. About half of the families that recieve food aid already have at least one person working at least two jobs.

With just one dollar, the Oregon Food Bank can distribute 6 pounds of food. 6 pounds can fill a whole grocery bag, which in turn can feed a family for two days. One Oregon citizen, Amy, decided to donate some of her profits from a craft business to the Oregon Food Bank. In the first year, she donated $5000. In the school year, most kids can recieve free meals at their school cafeteria. However, in the summer these schools are closed, leaving no place for the distribution of the meals. Therefore, 50 different places were opened where children could come and eat breakfast and lunch.

The Oregon Food Bank does not just serve Oregonians. One time, the island of Veronica was flooded, leaving the citizens with not fuel, no electricity, no sanitation, and no food. THe American Red Cross used the Oregon Food Banks to supply food to the 10,000 citizens.

To fight state hunger, the Oregon Food Bank was created. Now, it has risen to the national level and has stopped hunger in multiple states. It has also brought families closer by providing them with food. One simple dollar could be spent not on candy for the indivudial, but on 6 lb of food that could pull a family out of starvation. Gobal hunger can be terminated, or at least slowed, if indivudials like Amy donate and volunteer their time and money to not bennefitting themselves, but the community instead.