Matters! Winter 2019
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FOOD MATTERS! WINTER 2019 Empathy and a personal stake drive Daniel's efforts to lift up our community. School Pantry Volunteer Knows the Difficulties Parents Face As one of four children raised by a single mother, his volunteer work at three Portland-area school Daniel witnessed first-hand how hard his mom pantries — Cherry Park Elementary, Glenfair worked and how difficult it was to provide for a Elementary and David Douglas High School. family with only one income. “If it wasn’t for having food stamps, we would not have been able to be Volunteering also provides Daniel with a newfound fed,” he explains. community: “It’s like an extended family... I really love interacting with people and seeing how their Daniel's experience is incredibly common; one in day or week is going,” Daniel says. Volunteers and four families headed by a single parent experiences patrons swap stories and recipes, finding friendship hunger. “Seeing my mom struggle, I want people and creating a closer, more resilient community. to know there are good people in this world that want to do good for people and have them For Daniel, volunteering is a family affair; his sister, succeed,” Daniel says, citing this as inspiration for nieces and nephews also [continued on back] Single mothers and their families face twice the rates of hunger. with single moms and kids under six are Creating a Village for living in poverty. Single Moms Our voices can help ensure critical But together, we can create new villages for single parents. One effective, community- nutrition programs are reauthorized centered program is school meals — breakfast, lunch, after-school snacks, even You’ve heard the Nigerian Igbo proverb, “It dinner in some schools. Though these takes a village to raise a child.” But when it meals — which meet rigorous nutritional comes to single moms living in the United guidelines — are available only to kids, the States, the village too often turns its back. program frees up financial resources and eases the overall burden on parents. They One of the most common family can rest easier knowing their children will arrangements in the U.S. is children living eat well that day. with single mothers. Raising children is incredibly important and challenging Congress will soon decide whether to work under any circumstances — made reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act, which even more difficult while battling hunger funds programs like school meals and WIC and poverty. (Women, Infants & Children) that support families. It’s incredibly important that our The most recent USDA Food Security representatives in Washington understand Study found that 27.8 percent of all the impact of these initiatives. Sign up to families headed by single moms face take action at oregonfoodbank.org/advocate hunger — twice the rate of other families — help us create a village for all Oregon and with children. Worse yet, 2018 poverty SW Washington families! data shows that half of all families This is Why the Root Causes Matter There was actual, honest-to-Betsy, I-kid-you- Oregon passed a landmark minimum wage A NOTE not good news released recently. According law, creating a three-tiered rate that FROM to U.S. Department of Agriculture, food requires employers to provide raises THE CEO insecurity in Oregon dropped by 31 annually through 2022. percent from 2015 to 2018! That means we're finally back to the level of hunger We hear from folks who no longer need we experienced before the 2008 Great food assistance because their wages have Recession. So while this is great news, let’s increased. And we’re not alone; several pause to consider… it took a decade for other states have enacted wage increases families to recover from the worst economic in recent years — including Nebraska, crisis of my generation. Colorado and New York. These states all saw significant drops in rates of hunger. Why? Because addressing the root causes of hunger has a profound impact. While there is promise in these victories, we also know that way too many people still experience food insecurity — one out of every nine households in Oregon. That may be in line with the national average, but it ultimately means that 480,000 Oregonians still struggle to afford food. That's the equivalent of the combined populations of The 2016 Oregon Legislature voted to Eugene, Gresham, Bend and Medford. increase the minimum wage to $15/hour. Household food security in OR and US Food insecurity among African American 16% and Native American households is more 14% than double the rate of white households in 12% Oregon, and Latinx families also face higher 10% rates of hunger. We must acknowledge the 8% 6% profound role institutionalized racism has 4% played as a driver of hunger and poverty in 2% our communities. 0% 2012 2013 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 We have much to celebrate, but there is At Oregon Food Bank, we believe that hunger still hard work ahead. The road to systemic is not just an empty stomach or an individual change is difficult and slow and frequently experience. Hunger is a community-wide thankless. But it works, and we now have symptom of exclusion — of not having evidence to prove it. So, I’m all in on this enough nutritious food, enough income, effort to end hunger. I hope you’ll join me at enough power, enough represented voice. oregonfoodbank.org/advocate today! It took a decade for hunger to decrease because our neighbors facing hunger did not have access to living wages or to affordable housing. These systemic problems require systemic solutions. Susannah Morgan CEO, Oregon Food Bank Fortunately, Oregon stepped up with systemic solutions in recent years. In 2016, Oregon Harvest Dinner This fall, the Oregon Food Bank warehouse once again transformed into a foodie fundraising venue. Prior to the regionally-sourced, family- style dinner, we held an exciting auction and honored change-makers who help fight hunger. We lifted up the work of Angelica Cortes, who spoke about the importance of access to nutritious food to create strong families — as well as the need to remove systemic barriers 2019 HUNGER HERO that cause hunger. In all, generous Angelica Cortes supporters raised over $765,000 to feed our neighbors and build Our 2019 Hunger Hero is Angelica Cortes — a community health worker, organizer and Oregon Food resilient communities! Photos: Bank volunteer. She received the recognition at this oregonfoodbank.org/ohd2019 year's Oregon Harvest Dinner. Angelica and her family moved to Portland from Clackamas in 2013. At the time, they struggled to make ends meet. “There were families that told me I should visit the food pantries or the school pantry, so I did,” Angelica said. “I saw that I wasn’t the only one, that there were other families with greater needs than my own.” Angelica noted that access to fresh vegetables didn’t just help her budget; it improved her family’s health and well- being as well. Learning about available resources inspired Angelica to be more involved in her community, so that others can also have access to healthy food. Today, Angelica is a community organizer with Green Lents, Growing Gardens and works closely with Oregon Food Bank staff to help break down barriers for communities of color. Learn more about Angelica’s story at oregonfoodbank.org/angelica Thanks to More Than 2,500 Community Members Who Took Action to Protect SNAP! September was Hunger Action Month the income level to qualify for SNAP — — the nationwide effort to mobilize slashing eligibility for 3.1 million Americans communities to help end hunger. Through and 300,000 free school lunches. your action, we issued 2,608 comments in opposition to the Trump Administration’s Though it came as a shock to thousands of proposed changes to eligibility for the Oregon families who face food insecurity, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program the move unfortunately adds to this (SNAP, or food stamps). Administration's pattern of attacks on people living in poverty. The SNAP program remains the nation's most effective tool in fighting hunger — “The families most likely to lose benefits providing food assistance to 38 million are usually working, sometimes more Americans each year. than one job, saving a little, and earning Current rules allow states modestly more than the standard like Oregon and Washington eligibility level,” says Susannah Morgan, to acknowledge higher living CEO. “Most of these families face high expenses that keep people living expenses like rent, childcare, in poverty despite earning transportation and food.” slightly more than the standard income eligibility Special thanks to community partner First level. But over the summer, Tech Federal Credit Union for sponsoring the Administration proposed Hunger Action Month in Oregon. a change that would lower Canstruction Includes Food Beyond the Can Portland’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction community came together for the 23rd year of Canstruction — an event where local firms bring their industry knowledge and competitive spirit to design, engineer and construct giant structures made entirely out of shelf-stable food. Twenty firms collaborated on eight teams to build inventive structures ranging from a Lion King-inspired Pride Rock to a five-foot gorilla made almost entirely of tuna fish. After a week of display at Pioneer Place, teams dismantled their masterpieces and donated all 33,000 pounds of food to Oregon Food Bank. Making sure to focus on most requested foods (like black beans and cooking oil), this year’s event raised 20 percent more food than last year for our neighbors experiencing hunger. Since its inception, Canstruction’s donations have supported our community with as many as 1.1 million meals.