Hunger

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  As need rises and resources are cut, OFB responds

  November 4, 2011
  Recent news about the state of hunger in our region paints a picture that few would like to see. Census data shows the issues of income inequity, poverty and hunger continue to worsen. News from our government forecasts significant cuts in federal food assistance that will affect every county in the Oregon Food Bank Network. And statistics confirm a 12 percent increase in the number of emergency food boxes distributed by OFB during our 2010-11 fiscal year. This marks the first time in OFB’s history that we have distributed more than 1 million emergency food boxes across our network in a single year.
  
  As our region struggles to recover from the effects of what has been called the Great Recession, we are energized by the foresight, planning and creative solutions that have been put into place to position OFB to meet these challenges and continue our mission. These efforts are especially critical, because we know that hunger has a direct effect on the health of our communities — including kids, families, seniors and those who are disabled. Hunger also affects learning, productivity and potential, and has a negative impact on our economy.
  
  

• Author Ursula Le Guin blogs about OFB

  October 24, 2011
  A recent tour of Oregon Food Bank inspired award-winning author Ursula Le Guin to share information about OFB in her blog. Here is a short excerpt from the entry:
  
  Many school-age children in our country, towns, and cities don’t get three meals a day, or even two. Many aren’t always sure if they’ll get anything to eat today at all.

  How many? About a third of them. One child in three.

  Put it this way: If you or I were a statistic-parent with three statistic-kids in school, one of our three children would be hungry. Malnourished. Hungry in the morning, hungry at night. The kind of hungry that makes a child feel cold all the time. Makes a child stupid. Makes a child sick.

  Which one of our children… which child… ?
  
  Read the full entry: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Blog2011.html#New

• Growing Hope Against Hunger

  October 6, 2011

  “Growing Hope Against Hunger,” a one hour primetime television special, produced by Sesame Workshop, will premiere on PBS, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. ET/PT (check local listings). In addition, a Spanish version of the special will air on Oct. 22, 1 p.m. ET/PT on Univision and on Oct. 23, 1 p.m. ET/PT on Telefutura.

  The special presents families’ personal stories to raise awareness of the widespread issue of hunger in the United States, as well as strategies that have helped these families find resources and grow stronger together.

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  September is Hunger Action Month

  September 7, 2011
  Hunger is a problem 365 days of the year, but for 30 days, it’s the focus of much attention across the nation. Hunger Action Month is a time when the whole nation not only ponders over hunger, but commits itself to finding a solution.
  
  Visit www.hungeractionmonth.org to view and share Hunger Action Month videos and learn about actions you can take to help fight hunger.
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  Childhood Hunger Coalition - a program of OFB

  August 18, 2011
  As of July 1st, 2011, Childhood Hunger Coalition (CHC), an interdisciplinary collaborative of health care providers and anti-hunger advocates, became a program of Oregon Food Bank, formalizing multiple years of collaboration between the two entities.
  
  “The Childhood Hunger Coalition is excited to build on its strong partnership with Oregon Food Bank," says Molly Haynes, CHC chair and manager of community health initiatives at Kaiser Permanente. "As an OFB program, the coalition will be able to expand its work to address the root causes and health impacts of childhood hunger."
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  Partnership promotes nutrition and well-being

  June 22, 2011
  In an effort to make healthy and nutritious food more accessible for low-income families, Oregon Food Bank is joining together with 12 Feeding America-affiliated food banks across the nation as part of the Healthy Options, Healthy Meals initiative.
  
  This innovative two-year program – created by MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and funded by Kaiser Permanente – will give OFB valuable tools and information to increase the amount of nutritious food we provide across our network. It will also provide strategies to explore ways to promote a diet that is focused on health and well-being and guards against obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related illnesses and conditions.
  
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  Paying the price for healthy food

  June 21, 2011

  A delicate balance: supply, quality and demand

  It’s a catch-22 reality for anyone who is trying to eat healthy on a tight budget: the healthier the food, the higher the cost.
  
  

• More families struggle to meet basic needs

  May 14, 2010

  It's barely dawn and Bree, a young woman in her twenties, is already hard at work, delivering newspapers.

  As soon as she completes her route, she heads to William Temple House North, an OFB Network food pantry in north Portland.

• Sharon and her family struggle to make ends meet in tough times

  It's been 17 years since Sharon needed an emergency food box to feed her family. Back then, she was a single mother, working in production and trying to recover from a back injury.
  
  Now, she's married and her husband has a good job as a machinist in the graphite industry. They've been able to stay on solid financial ground, until recently, when the economic recession hit, and her husband's hours were cut.