— Andrea Williams, Oregon Food Bank PresidentAs a mother, I think about the future I want for my two kids — a future where every family in Oregon has access to the resources they need, including immigrants and refugees. The Food for All Oregonians bill is about creating that brighter future because no one should be hungry.
Celebrating Women’s History Month
Celebrating Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month! At Oregon Food Bank, we celebrate the women, past and present, who lead the work to end hunger and its root causes.
Women’s History Month got its official start in 1980, created by the Carter administration to celebrate women’s “unsung and unnoticed” contributions. We honor this legacy by lifting up and recognizing the community care, labor and love of marginalized women.
Trans women, single mothers, and Black, Indigenous and other women of color face disproportionate rates of poverty and hunger. And these are the women who have brought innovative solutions to hunger in our communities for decades.
DEI bans silence our stories and our histories
We are deeply concerned by the federal administration’s executive orders to curtail and eliminate activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The “pause” on special observances — such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, LGBTQ Pride Month and Holocaust Remembrance Day — is a harmful attempt to silence our communities and erase our history.
At Oregon Food Bank, we will continue to observe, honor and learn from our history. We will continue to acknowledge and repair the harm of sexism, racism and classism. And we will continue to tell the stories of our communities and the activists who have fought — and fight today — for our liberation.
Women have always led food justice work
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Farm Cooperative
In 1967, Fannie Lou Hamer created the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Mississippi, a 40-acre farm co-op. The farm offered an avenue for liberation and land stewardship to impoverished local residents, most of whom were Black. Families could purchase a plot of land for a dollar a month, where they grew produce that would then be distributed back to the co-op members. The co-op expanded to 700 acres at its peak and started a “pig bank,” which produced thousands of new pigs over three years for families in the area. Freedom Farm was a groundbreaking model of food sovereignty in which Black residents could sustain themselves on the land and ensure food security for their families and community. (Atlas Obscura, SNCC)
LEARN MORE IN BLACK LIBERATION + FOOD JUSTICE
Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson
“[We] decided it was time to help each other and help our other kids. We fed people and clothed people. We kept the building going. We went out and hustled the streets. We paid the rent.” — Sylvia Rivera
Trans activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson made history for their activism at the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and in the Gay Liberation Front. They then co-founded the militant group and youth shelter STAR (Street *Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) in 1971. STAR provided vulnerable and unhoused trans teenagers with food and clothing. Their work is an inspirational example of community care, mutual aid and radical activism. Learn more about their work at the link here.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CENTERING TRANS AND GENDER EXPANSIVE COMMUNITIES
*Language is continuously evolving. Following the leadership of trans and gender expansive communities, we do not use this term at Oregon Food Bank and encourage our communities not to as well. But it is important to honor the history and legacy of our LGBTQIA+ elders. To learn more see here.
Indigenous women lead decolonization + land stewardship in Oregon
Good Rain Farm
As the founder of x̌ast sq̓it, Good Rain Farm in the Northern Willamette Valley, Michelle Weeks plans to “make sure everyone gets fed” by bringing Indigenous First Foods back to dinner plates, treating the soil with reverence and passing something on to the next generation of farmers.
My tribe, my family became certified extinct and lost access to a lot of our land and a lot of our identity, a lot of our culture. We're the original land tenders here. We had lived here for thousands of years and found a way to live here in harmony with our ecosystem and our fellow other beings. It's been difficult to realize that all this land was stolen Native land, and I also have to pay over a half a million dollars to access some land that would make this farm viable and successful forever. It's something I hopefully can pass on to the next generation of farmers.
No solutions about us without us: Latiné women in Oregon work toward a more just future
Coalición Fortaleza
Coalición Fortaleza sprouted from the ashes of the 2020 Alameda wildfire, when thousands woke to smoke, strong winds and evacuation orders. Today, they work to reimagine and rebuild housing in the Rogue Valley.
We are proud to say that we are a culturally-empowered, women of color-led community-based organization. We’re grounded in fierce love for Latina communities here in the Rogue Valley. And we are reimagining new solutions for our people, Mother Earth and our future generations. Our vision is to see our Latinx, Indigenous communities of the Rogue Valley thrive, where our community has the agency to shape their destiny and create solutions for themselves.
Guerreras Latinas
Guerreras Latinas offers Spanish-speaking women a safe space to connect to opportunities to empower themselves through information. The organization removes barriers to education and resources by offering classes, workshops, and presentations and by providing child care, hot meals and transportation costs to and from events.
I realized that there were barriers, so a solution must be found. I can't just sit down and pity myself and say well, it is whatever, right? On the contrary — our legacy comes from warriors. We are Guerreras Latinas not because we are strong or invincible, but because we have been forced to become warriors. We are forced to cross the border. We are forced to work two or three jobs. And we are forced to decide whether to grow professionally or work to keep bringing food to our families' tables, having a roof over our heads and covering all of our basic needs. I am strong, but when I am by myself, I can't achieve a lot. However, with many others, we are invincible. Nobody can stop us.
Moms for food justice
“As a single mom, I needed a lot of resources. And because of my language skills, I was able to access them. But what if I didn’t have these language skills? What if I didn’t have transportation? If you don't know how to read or how to use the bus it's even harder to navigate or find resources. What we are doing at Oregon Food Bank is really great. Reaching out to everybody and bringing these resources for the community is great because they know that somebody cares and somebody thinks about their needs.”
“I'm an immigrant single mother, and my primary motivation is to be able to give my kids and everyone's kids the best chance at life. I live and breathe that hope.”
“The ideal world for me is where no one is hungry. We start by educating children. We make them plant a tree and make it work until it reaches the sky. I imagine children at school planting their little plants, where we teach them how to sow. Because that way, kids will invite their parents to sow their own plants, their own seeds and have their own crops at home. That is my dream, and it starts with education, for children and for parents. This is how I imagine a world, everyone in their garden harvesting their essential things.”
Reproductive justice = food justice
“Coming from working in Reproductive Justice I know that access to receiving care is difficult and that holding different identities exacerbates the gap in receiving care. Oftentimes receiving care is put aside to meet other basic needs, but we know that no one should have to choose what need to fulfill. People shouldn't have to go hungry or have to go without receiving care. Our communities deserve to thrive and not be kept from accessing what they need because of unjust systems.”
— Evelyn Estrada Guzman, Oregon Food Bank Statewide Organizing Manager
“Studies show that people who seek and are unable to access abortion care are more likely to spend years living in poverty than people who access care. New restrictions on reproductive health care resulting from the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will place a significant strain on hundreds of thousands of families facing food insecurity nationwide. Similarly, lack of access to gender affirming healthcare poses great personal and financial risks to community members seeking care — and forces people to make impossible choices between accessing vital healthcare and putting food on the table. Expanding access to bias-free and competent healthcare is a critical intervention against hunger and poverty.”
— Moira Bowman, Oregon Food Bank Director of Advocacy
