Mary Ruhl chooses carefully how to spend her time
Mary Ruhl lives her life like a leaf and chooses carefully how to spend her time.

For the past 10 years, she has volunteered her design skills to OFB, creating 10 annual reports and Thanksgiving cards to help OFB raise funds and -- designing a fabulous learning garden adjacent to OFB's new warehouse.
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Research and action aim to eliminate the root causes of poverty

To address the root causes of hunger—poverty and economic inequality ...

First, we must understand the problem:

• Who is hungry, why?
• What do they have to say about their experience?

We share this information with government agencies and elected officials and ask them to make policy decisions that are fair to low-income Oregonians.

Why are so many people hungry?
Look at the research:

• The State of Hunger, July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009
  A sheet with graphs and Oregon Food Bank's most recent statistics.
• Hunger and Food Insecurity in the Fifty States: 1998-2000 (PDF Document)
  Published by the Center on Hunger and Poverty, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. This study states that "Oregon is number one in hunger."
• Profiles of Poverty and Hunger in Oregon 2008
  The report presents the results of a survey of households that received an emergency food box from the Oregon Food Bank Network.
• Snapshots of Hunger in Oregon
• State of the States, demographics on poverty and food insecurity in Oregon and Washington.
• Other major studies on hunger and poverty

What can we do?

• Bone up on current issues
• Read our monthly Advocacy Alert
• Write to your legislator
• Listen to the Voices of low-income Oregonians
• Navigate the System: get the benefits you’re qualified to receive