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PORTLAND, Ore. (April 20, 2005) -- The Oregon Food Bank Network will honor people and groups, Thursday, April 21, for outstanding support to the statewide network of 20 regional food banks.
2005 Hunger Buster Award recipients are Fred Meyer, Oregon State University and its Extension Service, The Oregonian, and Betsy Johnson and John Helm.
Jessica Chanay, assistant director, FOOD for Lane County, will receive the Ron Cease Award for regional food bank staff excellence.
Margaret Grant, retired executive director of Marion-Polk Food Share in Salem will receive the Dennie Dustin Memorial Award for outstanding personal service and leadership to the Oregon Food Bank Network.
“It is an honor to recognize these wonderful individuals and organizations for their work and dedication to the statewide network,” said Tracie Smith, director of Columbia Pacific Food Bank in St. Helens and chair of the Oregon Food Bank Network.
The Oregon Food Bank Network is a cooperative statewide coalition of 20 regional food banks working to eliminate hunger and its root causes by distributing donated food to agencies serving low-income people and through advocacy and public education about the underlying causes of hunger.
Hunger Buster Awards
- Fred Meyer will receive the Hunger Buster Award for outstanding, innovative corporate support of statewide food banking efforts in numerous ways over many years.
Regional food banks praise Fred Meyer as a major supporter of OFB’s Fresh Alliance program and for its efforts to expand the program beyond the Portland metropolitan area to regional food banks throughout the state. Fred Meyer stores successfully launched Fresh Alliance programs in Redmond, Bend, Medford, Grants Pass, Roseburg and Eugene. Fresh Alliance is a program to increase retail donations of high-quality, nutritious food such as dairy products, meat and produce.
Moreover, each year for the past three years, Fred Meyer has provided more than a million bags for the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive and also has provided bags for the Scouting for Food drive. Fred Meyer supported OFB’s Oregon Harvest Dinner. Its employees volunteer to help fight hunger, and Mark Van Buskirk, senior vice president, food group, contributes his time and expertise as a member of OFB’s Board of Directors.
- Oregon State University and OSU Extension Service will receive the Hunger Buster Award for outstanding support from an organization.
OSU has supported Linn Benton Food Share for more than a decade. During the last five years, OSU has donated more than $50,000 and more than 80,000 pounds of food and provided interns and volunteers to help fight hunger in Linn and Benton counties. Most recently, OSU has donated food from its kitchens and dining halls. OSU also supports the OFB Network through public education about hunger issue, conducts and analyzes hunger surveys and studies, publishes scholarly research on hunger and organizes hunger awareness events.
OSU Extension Service has helped fight hunger through numerous projects ranging from Life Skills classes in McMinnville to nutrition education in Tillamook to Oregon Hunger Summit and Community Food Assessment Workshop in southern Oregon. In addition, OSU Extension nutrition coordinator has worked with OFB to develop and pilot OSU Extension’s Family Food Education Program for low-income families.
- The Oregonian will receive the Hunger Buster Award for outstanding media support to the Oregon Food Bank Network of regional food banks.
The Oregonian Publishing Co. has donated more than $900,000 to OFB since 1989, including contributions through The Oregonian’s Season of Sharing and gifts-in-kind and to OFB’s Capital Campaign and Bridge Party. The Oregonian A&E has supported the A&E Front Porch stage at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival for many years. And A&E reporters, editors and critics create the essential Waterfront Blues program and write advance stories and reviews that inform readers of this important event. Moreover, The Oregonian’s reporters, writers, columnists – from the editorial staff to FOODday writers to the A&E team to Season of Sharing writers to feature writers and general assignment reporters – work to provide accurate and timely information about hunger issues to a statewide readership.
“We are fortunate to have a paper with so many intelligent and thoughtful reporters who have the skills, talent and journalistic judgment to describe complex hunger issues in words that capture the interest of readers,” states the nomination.
- Sen. Betsy Johnson and John Helm will receive the Hunger Buster Award for outstanding volunteer support.
Sen. Johnson and Helm and their family’s Samuel Johnson Foundation have supported regional food banks and pantries throughout Oregon in numerous ways. The couple supported OFB’s capital campaign. Sen. Johnson not only hosted a Governor’s Harvest Dinner, she donated funds to each participating hunger-relief agency. Foundation grants have helped regional food banks and emergency food pantries purchase food and equipment. And as a state legislator, Johnson advocates for people living in poverty. She participated in the Walk A Mile program, attends fund-raising and hunger awareness events, donates toys to Columbia Pacific Food Bank and donates meat to regional food banks in Columbia and Clatsop counties.
- Jessica Chanay will receive the Ron Cease Award.
Chanay served as interim director of FOOD for Lane County and helped the organization through a difficult transition. She organized community meetings that led to the development of Food Policy Council for Lane County, developed and established funding for a client advocacy position and integrated advocacy into FFLC’s mission. She put FFLC’s gardens program on solid footing and secured HUD grants to support Healthy Futures Program. She also serves on numerous community boards and commissions.
- Margaret Grant will receive the Dennie Dustin Award.
Grant served as executive director of Marion-Polk Food Share from the organization became an independent organization in 1987 until retiring in 2004. She has been involved in food and nutrition programs at the local and statewide level for many years. Grant also serves as a board member of Oregon Food Bank and on the advisory boards for Salem YMCA and St. Joseph’s Shelter in Mt. Angel.
A California native, Grant attended Dominican College in San Rafael. She also studied in Mexico and worked in Colombia and Turkey with the overseas relief organization, CARE. In her spare time, Grant enjoys gardening and working on her old house in north Salem. Grant has two grown children, Abigail and Joseph, who live in California. Marion-Polk Food Share is the regional food bank serving Marion and Polk counties.
The Oregon Food Bank Network of regional food banks includes: Oregon Food Bank-Metro Services (Portland), Oregon Food Bank-Washington County Services (Hillsboro), Clatsop Community Action (Astoria), South Coast Food Share (Coos Bay), Linn-Benton Food Share (Corvallis), FOOD for Lane County (Eugene), Josephine County Food Bank (Grants Pass), Klamath/Lake Counties Food Bank (Klamath Falls), Community Connection (La Grande), Yamhill Community Action Partnership (McMinnville), ACCESS, Inc. (Medford), Lincoln County Food Share (Newport), Southeast Oregon Regional Food Bank (Ontario), CAPECO (Pendleton), Central Oregon Community Action (Redmond), UCAN Food Share (Salem), Columbia Pacific Food Bank (St. Helens), Mid-Columbia Community Action (The Dalles), CARE Regional Food Bank (Tillamook).
Contacts:
Terry Kirby, Communications Director, FOOD for Lane County
(541) 343-2822
tkirby@foodforlanecounty.org
Jean Kempe-Ware, Public Relations Manager, Oregon Food Bank
(503) 419-4170
jkempe-ware@oregonfoodbank.org
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