More About Nourish
1 in 8 adults in Deschutes County are food insecure
nour·ish: to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health and growth
FOOD INSECURITY is the state of being without reliable access or adequate resources to obtain a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food to maintain health. It is rooted in social, environmental, racial, and economic inequality.
FOOD EQUITY is when everyone has access to healthy, fresh food; it is the right to quality food for everyone
Nourish is one of many UUFCO Social Justice teams
seeking to address inequities and needs of our community members.
Nourish coordinates with and supports the established area programs that provide food access to anyone in our community who is hungry or food insecure. Nourish has volunteer opportunities as well as regularly scheduled UUFCO food drives to collect highly nutritious produce and perishables and high protein food items. As Spring arrives, we will encourage UUFCO gardeners to set aside a row of their personal gardens for the Nourish food donation drives. A designated donation garden plot at Hollinshead Community Garden will be tended by Nourish volunteers.
Nourish Our Food Collection and Donation Program
1 in 5 children in Deschutes County are food insecure
Produce and Perishables Toward the goal of increasing food equity in our community, Nourish holds a monthly UUFCO food drive on the second Sunday of each month, specifically for fresh fruits, veggies, diary, eggs and meats which are then distributed to our designated community programs: Family Kitchen, St. Vincent de Paul, Shepherd’s House, Bethlehem Inn, and COCC Food Pantry. Food pantries and programs are always in need of highly nutritious, protein-rich food items and fresh produce. Over the past year Nourish has collected over 1,000 pounds of perishables and protein for our community!
Gardening for Giving Do you plant a yearly vegetable garden? Do you love to harvest the garden during those summer mornings when those tomatoes are bursting on the vine and the zucchini is getting out of hand? Well, so do we! In the spirit of giving, we are asking you to commit to plant a row in your garden this summer for donation to our produce and perishables food drives. Our Nourish team will doing the same by planting, tending, and harvesting at our designated donation plot at Bend’s Hollinshead Community Garden.
Nourish the Volunteer Opportunities in our Community
These are the agencies we are committed to supporting in our efforts to decrease hunger and food insecurity and to increase food equity in our community. These programs have numerous volunteer opportunities from which to choose. To learn more about an organization, please click the name of the organization to be directed to their website.
Family Kitchen serves anyone who comes to their door. Families with little ones, seniors, housed, unhoused, employed, unemployed. There are no forms to fill out or proof of need to present. They are currently serving nearly 6,000 meals each month through eight meal times a week. They never close, rain, shine, snow, pandemic, or holiday.
The Giving Plate This program’s mission is to feed anybody in need with compassion and hospitality. Since opening in 2010 they have given over 69,000 families a week’s worth of food—equating to 4.98 million pounds of food. The Giving plate is the only food bank in Oregon that includes youth specific programs as well.
St. Vincent de Paul In addition to providing numerous social services assistance programs to its’ clients, this agency provides food boxes with enough groceries to prepare meals for 5 days to eligible individuals and families. Food boxes are available once per calendar month. Last year they provided 265,000 meals in our community.
In 2020, food pantries served 70% more people than in 2019
Central Oregon Community College Food Pantry COCC Food Pantry includes a “store” from which students can shop for free for food items once every two weeks or be provided a food bag for pick up. Students can shop on the Bend campus or call to make arrangements to meet someone on campus to pick up a bag. Each food bag contains three meals. The pantries serve any student in need of food and are available at the Redmond, Prineville and Madras campuses as well.
Bethlehem Inn is a high-barrier shelter with 150 beds for individuals and families. They provide three meals a day in a positive and dignified environment for all residents. Families with children are housed separately and are served meals in their own dining area.
Bend Food Project/ The Green Bag Program was started in October of 2015 by a small group of Bend residents who wanted to help fight hunger in our local area. They started with 20 volunteer neighborhood coordinators and now have 195 with over 3,000 donors. They collect their green bags of non-perishable items on the second Saturday of every even month from your door step. They currently collect an average of 40,000 pounds each time! Bend Food Project delivers their collected food items to the Giving Plate.
NeighborImpact has building a new warehouse because it sources, recovers and distributes approximately 4 million pounds of food to 56 local pantries, meal sites and shelters in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Their Fresh To You mobile pantry brings food directly to residents in underserved areas.