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November/December 2005 Living Now
Food or Rent?
Stark choices aided by The Oregon Food Bank Network

"In the midst of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquake in Pakistan, we’re seeing catastrophe at a magnitude we’ve never seen before. Yet, here in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., one in five people ate meals from an emergency food box at least once last year," said Rachel Bristol, executive director of the Oregon Food Bank. "They are children, senior citizens on fixed incomes, people who are disabled and people who work hard at low-paying jobs. This is a huge problem right in our own backyard that is mostly invisible."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oregon remains among the 10 worst states in the nation in hunger. Each month, an average of 194,000 people (of which 38 % were children) ate meals from an emergency food box in Oregon and Clark County, Wash. In addition, 170 soup kitchens and shelters provided 4-million emergency meals and 362 other agencies helped more than 128,000 people at senior centers, day care centers and other low-income programs.

This year’s statistics also show a major change in the mix of food to the Oregon Food Bank Network. The amount of food that OFB receives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s surplus commodities program dropped 21 percent to 9-million pounds.

"Fortunately, our food industry partners stepped up to fill the gap," said Bristol.

The food industry provided more than 38-million pounds of food – a 13 percent increase. Of the 60.8-million total pounds of food that the OFB Network distributed during fiscal year 2004-05, 63 percent came from the food industry, 15 percent from USDA, 14 percent from food drives and 8 percent was purchased.

"Oregon and Clark County, Wash., continue to face an overwhelming state of hunger and food insecurity even though an estimated 43 percent of households needing help have at least one working member," says Bristol.

But a minimum, part-time or low-wage job doesn’t provide enough for the high-cost basics – housing, fuel, utilities and medical care. Few people who receive emergency food boxes – even if they work full time – have health insurance.

According to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Oregon’s affordable housing wage is $13.59 an hour in Oregon. So a worker making the current minimum wage of $7.25 would have to work 84 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom unit. The Department of Housing and Urban Development consistently describes affordable housing as rent or mortgage payments equal to no more than 30 percent of a family’s income. Yet, 51 percent of emergency food box recipients spent half or more of their income on housing.

The Oregon Food Bank Network is a cooperative statewide coalition of 20 regional food banks working to eliminate hunger and its root causes. Oregon Food Bank equitably distributes food from corporate, community and government sources throughout this network. Regional food banks distribute this food and additional resources from local donations to more than 894 programs serving low-income people in their communities. Seventeen of these regional food banks are independent nonprofit organizations. Oregon Food Bank directly operates the other three.