The Bend Food Project approaching 500,000-pound food donation milestone
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Food Project, in operation since October of 2015, is about to reach a significant milestone in its 5-year history.
The non-profit organization has a collection event every other month. This year they have averaged over 20,000 pounds per collection.
As of August, The Bend Food Project has collected 488,508 pounds of non-perishable food. At their next collection event, on Oct. 10, they anticipate passing the 500,000-pound mark.
"Sue and I started this project in 2015 with ten friends, and our first event brought in about 3,000 pounds of food,” said Larry Marceaux. “While we did well early on, we thought the coronavirus would really put a damper on our collection efforts. Instead, more people stepped up to help feed hungry Central Oregonians.”
The Bend Food Project has a network of 147 Neighborhood Coordinators, and over 2,200 active food donors.
Donors are given a now ‘infamous green bag.” For two months, the donor keeps the bag in their pantry, and adds a can or two of non-perishable food after a trip to the grocery store.
Every other month, a Neighborhood Coordinator picks up the bag from the front porch of the donor and transports the bags to a central location.
We sort and catalogue the food and deliver it to The Giving Plate, Bend’s largest food pantry. From there, The Giving Plate distributes it to their guests who struggle with food insecurity. All food stays in the Bend/La Pine/Sisters and Tumalo communities.
Bend Food Project’s October Collection Event will be held on Saturday, October 10th, from 9:30 to 12:30. The Green Bags will be delivered to a central location where they are weighed and sorted.
“Hitting the 500,000 pound milestone equates to 400,000 meals,” said Marceaux. “We’ve got a pretty impressive giving community here.”
