This crisis is real — and real action is needed to address hunger and poverty right now.

by Susannah Morgan, CEO

I was just talking to my colleague, Paul, who drives our truck out to the Crossroads free food market in NE Portland. He said the line for food assistance this morning went on for blocks.

Paul said to me: “Susannah, things are getting real.” And I think that sentiment captures the crisis we’re all in: This is real.

What’s real is that one in five of our neighbors is facing hunger in this terrible winter in the midst of a pandemic.

But what is also real — and what is giving me hope — is that we are not alone. We’ve come together time and again as a community to care for one another.

You have been showing up with extraordinary generosity during the season of giving. And we are so grateful and humbled by the trust of the legislature’s emergency board, which allocated $3 million to the Oregon food bank network to alleviate immediate food needs.

This season, I have asked so much of you and you have come through.

And so of course, I’m going to ask you again — because Oregon’s legislature meets this coming Monday in Special Session. And one of the things they are going to consider is extending the eviction moratorium. Your voice is needed in these final crucial days.

The eviction we’re talking about is exactly what it sounds like: It prevents people from losing their housing in the middle of a pandemic.

We work every day to ensure our neighbors aren’t hungry — and we can’t do that if thousands of people suddenly end up on the streets. So please pick up your phone or go online today and contact your legislators. Tell them that you support an extension to the eviction moratorium. We’ve got a button right here with this message to make it easy for you.

You have been there for us for the past nine months as we’ve marched through this pandemic together. You have been there for neighbors facing hunger time and again. Please do one more thing this holiday season and ensure we all emerge stronger.

You give me hope that anything that seems impossible is something that we can do, together. So please keep taking action.