Board proclaims September 2014 as Hunger Action Month

September 5, 2014

From left: SUN Service System program supervisor Diana Hall; chief executive officer of the Oregon Food Bank Susannah Morgan; Chair's Office policy advisor Casey Filice; and representatives from Growing Gardens.

On Thursday, during its regular meeting, the Board of Commissioners officially proclaimed September 2014 as Hunger Action Month in Multnomah County.   

During the meeting, community partners said that one in three county residents do not know where their next meal is coming from and more than half the children in schools are eligible for free and reduced lunches.

Susannah Morgan, chief executive officer of the Oregon Food Bank, said her team is working across the community this month to raise hunger awareness, inspire volunteers and create a movement.

“We believe that it’s community engagement that will create the long term solution to hunger,” Morgan said at Thursday’s meeting.

Earlier in the year, the board boosted spending for the SUN Community Schools to partner with the Multnomah County Library and the City of Portland’s Parks and Recreation Department in order to serve more families this summer. “We will be opening four more food pantries at SUN Community Schools so taking our number from ten to fourteen,” said Diana Hall, a program supervisor for the SUN Service System. SUN is also working to expand programs that teach children how to grow fruit and vegetables at school through nonprofit partners like Growing Gardens.

Another SUN partner is the Oregon Food Banks’ Harvest Share program, which collects and distributes free, fresh produce to distribution sites from farmers and wholesalers. And, SUN’s School Food Pantry Program provides food to children and their families through schools and can give them from three to five days worth of food.

Although such efforts are producing food for thousands of meals, there are still more families to feed. Bonnie Grimm of Metropolitan Family Service spoke of her personal experiences as the SUN site manager for Davis Elementary School, where nearly 90 percent of their students qualify for reduced and free lunch. The site offers a daily supper program and receives 10 emergency food bags a month, which Grimm describes as “never enough.”

“There are teachers who will go out and buy food, particularly fresh produce, and deliver it to families because those food banks just aren’t enough,” Grimm said.

She recalled being horrified after one hungry child received a bag of food  but returned the next day without having eaten it because her immigrant refugee family didn’t have a can opener. Grimm was so upset she personally dropped off food at the girl’s home.

She said the Growing Gardens program at Davis Elementary is making a difference by teaching more children how to grow food and understand its nutrition. Kids are delighted by fruit and vegetables they’ve never seen before. Opening more of their own Growing Garden plots will help, and they even plan to give a plot to their own kitchen manager to help provide fresh and healthy food at school.

Commissioner Jules Bailey praised the efforts so far. In the last year, the Bailey said the Oregon Food Bank distributed over 10 million pounds of food.

“We need to increase how we support these programs and what we do to make sure they are successful,” Commissioner Bailey said.

Bonnie Grimm agreed. “Everyone deserves healthy food options,’’ she said. “Not just those that can afford it.”

Chair Deborah Kafoury and Commissioner Bailey will volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank on Sept. 10 at 9:30 a.m. Food bins are located in the Multnomah Building lobby until then.