Beneficiaries of Taste of the Nation Portland

100% of ticket sales and auction proceeds go toward the fight against hunger.

Oregon Food Bank
For more than 20 years, the Oregon Food Bank has provided emergency food for needy people in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Based in Portland, the food bank is the hub of a network of 20 regional food banks and 919 hunger-relief agencies and programs. Last year, this network distributed more than 752,000 emergency food boxes, served nearly 4 million meals, and provided food to 88,000 people. Each month, an average of 192,000 people—including 71,000 children—eat meals from emergency food boxes. Oregon Food Bank also works to eliminate the root causes of hunger through “learning gardens,” advocacy, and outreach. Using materials from Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline, they offer cooking classes for low-income adults and children. For more information, call 503- 282-0555, or visit www. oregonfoodbank.org.

Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank
In 2007, nearly 10,000 people received food boxes from Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank, and more than 1,900 children, seniors, people with disabilities, and others in need received hot meals prepared from Food Bank food. For 24 years, this Southern Oregon food bank has served its 18,000-square-mile community in Oregon’s Klamath and Lake counties and in parts of Siskiyou County in California. Last year, the food bank distributed 800,000 pounds of food through 50 emergency food-assistance programs and other agencies. For more information, contact the Klamath- Lake Counties Food Bank at 541-882-1223.

St. Vincent de Paul Food Recovery Program
Established in Portland in 1869, St. Vincent de Paul helps thousands of people in need through a number of programs, including a food bank and food-recovery efforts. This year, they are introducing Vincent's Mobile Kitchen in the rural areas of Clackamas and Washington counties to serve homeless youth and families. Their food recovery program rescues food that would otherwise go to waste, repackages it into nutritious meals and distributes it through more than 80 local organizations that feed low-income families and individuals, including many children. Last year, the program turned 3.2 million pounds of excess food from restaurants and other food-service kitchens into 68,400 meals for the needy in our community. For more information, contact Sharon Hills at 503-234-5287 or visit www.svdppdx.org.

The Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force
The Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force, created in 1989 by the Oregon Legislature, advocates for programs and policies to eliminate hunger. Among its accomplishments, the task force has been instrumental in expanding the Food Stamp Program by more than 80 percent over the past five years, and in increasing by hundreds of thousands the number of summer food program meals for children. During the 2009 Legislature, the Task Force will target the root causes of hunger by working on a number of initiatives, including: state funding to buy local produce for school meals, health-care coverage for all Oregon children, affordable housing, and an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families. For more information, visit www.oregonhunger.org.

Questions? Please call 503-222-4644 or send an email to info@portlandtaste.org.