Our Relationship With Oregon Food Bank:
Clark County is part of the Oregon Food Bank network as mandated by our national governing body, Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest). The network consists of 20 Regional Food Banks (RFB's) and serves all of the state of Oregon and Clark County. The regional banks order food from the main warehouse based on the allocation for their individual area and those resources are subsequently moved on to 935 non-profit local agencies (LA's) where hungry people actually access emergency food. Food provided to Clark County by OFB comes from Metro Services, the RFB which also covers Clackamas and Multnomah counties in Oregon.
While Clark County Food Bank does not currently have a formal agreement with OFB, 15 of our local agencies do have individual contracts with them. This allows each affiliated agency to place orders directly with OFB which are filled through Metro Services. They can also 'dock shop' at the main warehouse and receive produce drops delivered directly to their site.
It's difficult to know precisely how much food comes to Clark County from OFB because there are a number of entities outside of our Stop Hunger Warehouse (SHW) that receive deliveries directly or pick orders up at OFB's warehouse; specifically our local agencies and the Share House Meals Program. We do know that approximately 25% of the food going through SHW comes from OFB; averaging 44K pounds per month. We also know from sources at Metro Services that 1,280,000 pounds of 'donated' food were provided to Clark County from their inventories in 2008. All things considered, of the 4 million pounds of food committed to hunger relief in Clark County last year, we estimate that in excess of 40% was provided by OFB.
Obviously Oregon Food Bank is a major partner and contributor in our effort to "alleviate hunger and its root causes in Clark County." The Board and Staff at CCFB are working diligently to ensure this relationship remains strong and we anticipate an even more vibrant association in the future as we continue the fight to end hunger in our community.