CEO Note: Join Me in Voting to End Hunger

September means my birthday, but since I’m in my 50s, birthdays just aren’t that exciting anymore. Luckily, September also brings something much more important: Hunger Action Month!

Hunger Action Month is a time when people across the country come together to volunteer, donate and make our voices heard in the fight to end hunger. That means you, our incredible community! Your ongoing support fuels our shared mission to eliminate hunger and its root causes. Thank you for all of your hard work — past, present and future.

The last two-plus years have been grueling. Nearly one in five Oregonians have faced food insecurity — not knowing where our next meal might come from. Through it all, I’ve been so encouraged to know I’m not alone in the work, to see our community stepping up and taking action. Two such examples include the work of community leaders like Denis and Liban, amazing farmers who are building community power at the intersection of civic engagement and locally-grown, culturally-specific food.

I am fundamentally a hopeful person. I fundamentally believe people are good, and that we want to do the right thing for each other. Now in (cough) middle age, I have consistently found that if I just do the work needed to create communities that never know hunger, then the people around me will join in. First action alone, then action together. That’s how change happens and hope is continually rekindled.

Join me and take action. Throughout September and beyond, we’ll share a host of resources, inspirational stories and opportunities to get involved with a focus on addressing food insecurity at its roots.

You can donate. You can volunteer. And perhaps most important of all, you can get civically engaged.

The root cause of hunger is poverty, and poverty itself has root causes in inequities, such as racism, sexism and classism. Because these root causes are systemic, the solutions must be systemic too — from policy change to government investment. Here in Oregon, many of these decisions are made at the ballot box. This means voters directly decide how we’ll address key issues in our communities.

If me and you (and you and you and you) vote to end hunger this year and every year, then we really can end hunger for good. I hope you’ll get involved.

With love and hope,

Susannah