The Best in Us: Our Impact Together in 2021

Dear friends,

As I write this, more than 800,000 people in America have died due to COVID-19 — and the number facing hunger and poverty has grown by tens of millions.

In 2020, the Oregon Food Bank Network saw nearly double the amount of people who sought assistance in 2019. And communities that have experienced disproportionate rates of hunger for decades have been hit especially hard: people of color, immigrants and refugees, trans and gender nonconforming communities and single moms and caregivers.

And yet, in many ways, this pandemic has brought out the best in us. In the midst of a massive public health and economic disaster, our community acted with and for one another. Staff and volunteers across 21 regional food banks and 1,400 food assistance sites kept food flowing to those of us facing hunger. The outpouring of community generosity through time, money and energy has been nothing short of phenomenal. We have cared for each other in large and small ways — and we have uncovered new power to drive collective change.

Even during the worst crisis of my lifetime, we made meaningful progress toward resilient communities that never go hungry. We advanced legislative changes that will improve the lives of millions of people in Oregon and across the country: a permanent increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits; expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit; major state investments in food and housing security; and a more inclusive Oregon for immigrant and refugee communities.

Internally, we recommitted our organization to the pursuit of equity and racial justice in all we do. We launched a Policy Leadership Council, made up entirely of community leaders with lived experience of hunger and its root causes, to lead our work in identifying and removing barriers to prosperity for all. And we raised our organizational minimum wage to $21.50, so that no one who works here will ever have to make the impossible choice between food and other essentials.

This is the best in us — and I hope you'll take a few minutes to celebrate the many shared accomplishments captured in Oregon Food Bank's 2021 Impact Report.

Yet we know there is so much more we can do together. With the challenges and opportunities ahead, there’s no time to rest. If we continue as we have begun, I know that we will #EmergeStronger.

With love and respect,

Susannah Morgan, CEO