Upcoming food drives critical for C.O. families
NeighborImpact is calling on community members to help stock the regional food warehouse in Redmond over the next several weeks. Two important food drives bring in about 65,000 pounds of food, which keeps food on the shelves through the summer months.
Operation CanOpener – April 23 rd & April 24 th
10,000 pounds in two days. That’s how much food volunteers hope to collect during Operation CanOpener presented by Searing Trading Company of Bend.
Teams of volunteers will leave bags on the front porches of area homes on Thursday, April 23 rd and all you have to do is fill them up and they’ll be collected the next day – Friday, April 24 th .
Food 4 Less in Bend has donated over 4,000 bags for the event and Searing is looking for volunteers. If you’d like to join a team, or bring a team to help, please email Scott@SearingTradingco.com.
There’s a little incentive to help, too. Operation CanOpener will end Friday with a BEERIGATION CELEBRATION atSearing Trading Co.from 5:00pm to 8:30pm.
Letter Carrier’s “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive – May 9 th
The biggest food drive of the year for NeighborImpact takes place just two weeks later. “Stamp Out Hunger” is a national food drive in partnership with National Association of Letter Carriers. Last year, this event brought in 54,000 pounds of food to NeighborImpact.
To donate, just place a box or can of non-perishable food next to your mailbox before your letter carrier delivers on Saturday, May 9th. The carrier will do the rest. The food is sorted and delivered to NeighborImpact’s food bank for distribution throughout Central Oregon.
“This is the biggest food drive of the year for us,” says Sandy Klein, Food Resource Specialist for NeighborImpact. “It keeps the shelves of our food bank stocked through fall before the holiday food drives.”
The NeighborImpact Food Bank Program is the regional affiliate of the Oregon Food Bank and distributes over 2.6 million pounds of food to 40 local agencies in Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties. Over 19,000 individuals are helped at emergency food sites every month during the year.
