Front page
Food
Your Financial Support Matters!
85% of our funding comes from
private individuals & organizations
Winter 2016
Everybody Eats!
Linn Benton
Food Share
Regional Food Bank
serving Linn & Benton
counties since 1981
Recipients
Food Pantries
Provide a minimum 3-5 day supply of food
for preparation at home.
Meal Programs
Provide free meals to individuals and families.
Gleaning Groups
Funds
Membership groups comprised of low-income qualified
individuals and families that collect food from local grocery stores,
harvest at farms and pick up food at LBFS warehouse.
CONTACT US!
Visit us online at
www.linnbentonfoodshare.org
Tax ID: 93-1099406
Food Share
Director
Ryan McCambridge
Food Drives &
Fundraisers
Colleen Dyrud
Volunteer &
Gleaning
Susan James
541-758-2608
541-758-2621
541-758-2645
541-758-2609
Mail:
PO Box 1920
Corvallis OR 97339
Or like us on Facebook
Office: 545 SW 2nd St Ste A
Corvallis OR 97333
You Make the Difference
[email protected]
LINN
ALBANY
LEBANON
ALSEA
MONROE
Albany Gleaners
Albany Helping Hands
Chamberlin House
Community Gleaners
Family Tree Relief Nursery
Fish of Albany Pantry
JSYSI/Albany Youth Shelter
Mid Valley Gleaners
Presbyterian Child Care Center
Salvation Army Pantry
Signs of Victory Pantry
Signs of Victory Shelter
St. Mary's Soup Kitchen
Caring Team Pantry
Fish of Lebanon Pantry
Lebanon Gleaners
Lebanon Schools Foundation
Lebanon Soup Kitchen
Real Bowls Real People
River Center Backpack Program
St Vincent de Paul Pantry
The Lords Storehouse Pantry
Alsea Community Effort
Jeni’s Place/Alsea Food Bank
Alsea Gleaners
S Benton County Gleaners
S Benton Food Pantry
S Benton Nutrition Program
BLODGETT
PHILOMATH
Coastal Range Food Bank
Neighbor to Neighbor
Philomath Gleaners
Philomath Food Bank
Strengthening Rural Families
BROWNSVILLE
North Santiam Gleaners
Sharing Hands Food Pantry
SHEDD
HALSEY
PNW Adult & Teen Challenge
Pack Snack Backpack Program
Central Linn Gleaners
SWEET HOME
HARRISBURG
Harrisburg Harvesters
JEFFERSON
Jefferson Community Pantry
MILL CITY
Canyon Gleaners
SCIO
Fair Share Unlimited Gleaners
Hope Center Inc
Kids Food Pak
Seventh Day Adventist Pantry
SHEM Food Bank
SHEM Manna Meal Program
Sweet Home Assembly
of God Pantry
Sweet Home Gleaners
CORVALLIS
CARDV
Community Outreach Inc
Corvallis Family Table
Men’s Cold Weather Shelter
Grace Center
Jackson St Youth Services Inc
Janus House
Mary's River Gleaners
OSU Emergency Food Pantry
Room at the Inn Shelter
South Corvallis Food Bank
St Vincent de Paul Pantry
SVDP at Garfield School
Stone Soup Corvallis Inc
Vina Moses
Weekend Power Pack Program
A program of
Community Services
Consortium
BENTON
Food Share Member Agencies
In our member network, small acts of kindness happen
every day. Through the sharing of food our volunteers, staff
and you, our dedicated donors, are creating a place where
no one goes hungry and people can get back on their feet. It is
because of you and your support that these first steps happen.
In the following pages we report some of our community’s
responses to hunger and poverty. These interactions and
programs exist because of supporters like you. All the things
necessary to respond to and eliminate hunger – the millions
of pounds of food, our commitment to nutrition, the cooking
demo projects, and support of local agriculture – would not
exist without your support. Without you, 13,000 people
every month would not have food to put on the table, meal
sites would not have the resources to provide nearly 300,000
meals a year, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of good
food would wind up in the landfill or tilled under. And
without this infrastructure of emergency food box, meal site,
supplemental feeding programs and gleaning groups the life
altering interactions between one person and another would
fall away.
Local gleaning groups harvested over 20,000 pounds of
pumpkins from Grays Farm in Millersburg this fall.
Through our network of agencies we not only deliver food
to those in need, but also celebrate the personal interactions
that can change lives.This is why your support matters.
This is how you make a difference.
Thank You!
Ryan McCambridge
Director, Linn Benton Food Share
Every day…
 850 emergency meals are provided in
Linn & Benton Counties
 495 individuals will eat from an emergency food box
 144 households receive an emergency food box
PO Box 1920 ● Corvallis OR 97339 ● 541-758-2609 ● www.linnbentonfoodshare.org ● [email protected]
Food
Community
Food and Farms
More Than a Food Box
Linn Benton Food Share (LBFS) has long standing relationships with local farms in Linn and Benton counties. We also have a
commitment to providing fresh, healthy food to our member agency network and the clients we serve. These relationships also
have positive effects for the farmer in the form of the state Crop Donation Tax Credit and a better harvest overall due to strategic
gleaning. Moreover, it can lead to a stronger farm economy and increased community food security. And finally, this relationship
between farmers and Food Share helps farmers continue to do what they do best: grow great food to feed the community.
Jefferson Community Pantry—Jefferson
Kisler Farm—Corvallis
The community of Jefferson straddles Linn and Marion counties
and boasts a relatively new food pantry at the United Methodist
Church, primarily serving rural Linn County residents. The
Jefferson Community Food Pantry is always looking for better
ways to assist the people they serve.
Letters
From the Field
One of their clients, Stephanie, loves to cook
for her family. She regularly comes into
the pantry excited to share how she
used food received from the pantry
Lebanon Gleaners
to make tasty meals for her kids.
My name is Michele Martin. I am a single mother of an amazing
The Pantry Team saw an op13 year old girl. My daughter’s name is Minta. Minta is severely
portunity and Stephanie was
Cooking demo pro, Stephanie, with her daughter
disabled and will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She
invited to give monthly food
In his first year owning the farm – and every year since – he has
serving her noodle vegetable dinner.
is unable to walk, talk, eat, or even do simple, everyday things we take for
demonstrations.
opened his fields to Linn Benton Food Share’s gleaners two times
granted, like brush her teeth on her own. I am Minta’s primary caregiver,
a week during the summer so they can gather squash, cucumFor each dinner demo she uses ingredients available during that day’s food distribution to
and the bulk of my time is devoted to Minta’s care, so I am unable to work.
bers and tomatoes. In 2015, Kisler Farm donated 4,136 pounds of
create quick, healthy, delicious meals. Recipes and food items needed to make these
Being part of Lebanon gleaners gives Minta and myself a much needed opporfresh, local produce to the Linn Benton Food Share program.
wholesome meals are then cleverly
tunity for social involvement with our community and a chance to give back
“When I first came to the pantry
featured on the pantry shelves for
“Members of our gleaning program enjoy nutritious vegetables
just a little of what has been given so generously to us. It also teaches Minta
I was looking for help. I found not just
clients to easily find.
because of the generosity of donors such as Tony,” Susan James,
that she is a valued member of the community – that there really are no limGleaning and Volunteer Programs Coordinator, said. “The experihelp with the food my family received,
Stephanie loves to share her joy of
its on her and her experience of life. The opportunity to help ourselves and
ence of harvesting produce for themselves as well as the elderly
cooking and her creativity with but also a way to share with others and
to help others is a unique gift.
Harvesting at Kisler Farm and disabled adoptees of their gleaning group is very rewarding.”
others – but it’s more than just the
give back what I can.”
Thank you for the opportunity to teach Minta the value of work,
recipes at stake. “When I first came to
And there’s more than just a rewarding feeling of giving back to the
of helping ourselves, and serving others.
the pantry I was looking for help. I found not just help with the food my family received, but also
community, it makes for good business: “If you let the fruit mature, it stops growing. So, they’re
Sincerely,
a way to share with others and give back what I can.”
helping me get a better harvest,” Tony added.
Tony Kisler, owner of Kisler Farm, one
of Corvallis’s few u-pick tomato and
pepper farms, has a day job in IT at
HP’s Corvallis campus. “I just wanted
to spend more time outdoors, doing
something that people appreciated.”
Over the last three years, 585,251
pounds of fresh produce has been grown
and donated to LBFS member agencies
from farms in Linn & Benton counties.
Michele Martin
5 THINGS YOU
Intentional Production
Meal Programs
The Willamette Valley grows great food. LBFS believes all residents should have access to this fantastic resource. With our p ilot Intentional Production
program, we take a small amount of our purchase dollars and invest in local farms to produce fresh fruits and vegetables just for the food bank. The
investment may be nothing more than helping repair a piece of equipment or covering the cost of fertilizer. But what this income means to the farmer
is that they can continue to do what they do best. Small farms are a vital component of community food security. Growing food locally creates
economic activity – especially in rural areas – and keeps more dollars circulating in our region.
Real Bowls/Real People—Lebanon
In September, Sean Casey and his volunteers celebrated
their 200th consecutive Sun“We’ve seen a real
day meal service. The 4th
increase in the
anniversary of service was
number of young
November 15 and they will
continue to be there on families joining us.”
- Sean Casey
Sundays to come.
Turpen Family Farm—Alsea
Tucked away on the Alsea-Deadwood Highway in rural Benton County is a blue and red sign for
Turpen Family Farm. Pam and Robert have been growing vegetables and raising chicken and
cattle on 72.5 acres since 1999. “Most of the property is timber and pasture for the cows, but we
do have 2 acres for growing vegetables,” said Robert. As the very first site location for Intentional
Production, Turpen Family Farm produced squash, tomatoes, rhubarb, peppers and tomatillos for
LBFS. All told, 3,481 pounds of fresh, first-rate produce was grown. Total cost for this first year project was just under 15¢ per pound delivered. Comparable purchased canned food ranges from
49c—56¢ per pound.
Intentional production is a product of our commitment to healthy food, but also an acknowledgement
of the role regional food banks can play in community economic activity. We look to continue our
relationship with Turpen Family Farm and expand to 2-3 additional partners in 2016.
Real Bowls/Real People is a LBFS partner agency mobile
meal program serving lunch every Sunday at River Park
in Lebanon.
“I cannot imagine a Sunday without seeing my adopted
family members at the park,” remarked Sean. In the last
year, Real Bowls served 3,834 meals. “We’ll continue to
be here – rain or shine – as long as folks need help.”
Turpen Family Farm
CAN DO TODAY
 Donate $10 for every family you
would like to feed
 Volunteer at the Community Open
House at the Tangent Warehouse.
 Workforce Education: Become a
mentor in a young person’s life.
Contact Armand at 541-758-2606
 Link your Fred Meyer Rewards Card
to support LBFS at
www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards
 Make LBFS your Smile beneficiary at
Amazon Smile program. Sign up and
0.5% of your total goes to LBFS