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Fresh Alliance Expands
For people who are hungry, milk, meat, cheese and
juices can be expensive and hard to come by. That's where Oregon
Food Bank's Fresh Alliance program comes in.
OFB's Fresh Alliance program sends truck drivers
to Albertsons, Fred Meyer and QFC stores to pick up truckloads
of high-quality, high-protein, short-dated foods that were previously
sent to landfills. Teams of volunteers sort and repack the foods
and within 24 hours of the time the food leaves the store, it
arrives at local hunger-relief agencies in the Portland metro
area.
The program has been operating successfully in Portland
since 2002. Now it has expanded to include stores in Eugene, Bend,
Medford, Grants Pass and Redmond to bring more fresh, high-quality
food to the Oregon Food Bank Network.
“The Fresh Alliance program in Eugene has had a
tremendous impact on the quantity and quality of the food we receive,”
says Deb Buchanan, food resource developer at FOOD for Lane County
in Eugene . “Better yet, it has opened the door for us to build
strong relationships with our local grocery stores and store managers.”
“The program emphasizes safe food handling and makes
it comfortable for the stores to donate products rather than dump
them,” she adds. “I get to hear firsthand how excited people are
when they receive an emergency food box that has a whole chicken,
cheese or fresh milk.”
Participating stores are as happy with Fresh Alliance
as are regional food banks, local agencies and emergency food
recipients of the Oregon Food Bank Network.
“Fresh Alliance is a fabulous program. I can't think
of a better way for Albertsons to help the community,” says Jamie
Johnson, a store manager at Albertsons. “The employees take ownership
of the program, the partnership between our stores and Oregon
Food Bank has been seamless, and we are seeing reduced dumping
fees and even labor savings. It's a win-win for us.”
Currently, 69 stores participate in Fresh Alliance:
41 through OFB's Meyer Memorial Trust Building in northeast Portland
, 11 through OFB's facility in Hillsboro and 11 through local
member agencies and regional food banks of the Oregon Food Bank
Network. And the program continues to grow.
- On Nov. 29, 13 additional Albertsons stores joined the program.
- In addition, three Wild Oats stores in the Portland area will
join on a three-month trial basis.
- Within the next few months, 16 additional Albertsons stores
will join Fresh Alliance: seven in Eugene, three in Central
Oregon, four in Medford, one in Albany and one in Corvallis
.
- Within the next few months, 11 additional Fred Meyer stores
in the Portland area will join the program.
“Our partners are happy with Fresh Alliance and
want to see the program expand to include all stores in the state
if possible,” says Bob Morris, food resource developer at Oregon
Food Bank. “We are excited to see its continue to expand and grow.”
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