Oregon Food bank / Free food markets
This page is not an official website of Oregon Food Bank nor other organizations that are mentioned in this page.
The purpose of this web page is for my individual project at Portland State University senior capstone class: Effective Change Agent (winter 2019) that I share my story of volunteering for Oregon Food Bank and free food markets.
personal INtroduction
Who am I?
I am Jun Heo, a Portland State University student, majoring in Mathematics & Statistics and minoring in Economics. This is my senior year and I have two more terms left to graduate!
I don't have many experiences about volunteering but I know that it is a good way to understand others and community and the joy from volunteering is incomparable to the joys from doing other things.
Why did I decide to volunteer for the Oregon Food Bank?
I believe an individual's belief can change the world as long as they can take action and continue what they decide to do. The reason why I decided to volunteer for Oregon Food Bank is that I believe that everyone should be able to access to healthy and nutritious foods regardless of their financial status.
Oregon Food Bank helps people to get nutritious and healthy food especially to low-income people and people who work and volunteer for this organization or their partners are there to support their community.
I am Jun Heo, a Portland State University student, majoring in Mathematics & Statistics and minoring in Economics. This is my senior year and I have two more terms left to graduate!
I don't have many experiences about volunteering but I know that it is a good way to understand others and community and the joy from volunteering is incomparable to the joys from doing other things.
Why did I decide to volunteer for the Oregon Food Bank?
I believe an individual's belief can change the world as long as they can take action and continue what they decide to do. The reason why I decided to volunteer for Oregon Food Bank is that I believe that everyone should be able to access to healthy and nutritious foods regardless of their financial status.
Oregon Food Bank helps people to get nutritious and healthy food especially to low-income people and people who work and volunteer for this organization or their partners are there to support their community.
Story of Oregon food bank
Introduction
Oregon Food Bank started its journey back in 1988 when Interagency Food Bank and Oregon Food Share merged together.
Oregon Food Bank collects food from farmers, individuals, retailers, manufacturers, and the government.
Then they distribute that food through a "Statewide Network of 21 Regional Food Banks and approximately 1,200 food assistance sitesserving all of Oregon and Clark County, Washington". - Oregon Food Bank website
Programs
-Action Center: All the collected foods go through the process of sorting and repacking in order to get ready to be distributed or sent out to free food markets and pantries. They have two warehouses in the different location, one is located in Portland and the other one is located in Beaverton. They need people to volunteer every day and they have up to five sessions a day depends on how much food they need to work on in order to send those to their communities.
-Free Food Market: Each warehouse does free food market to share food with the community. Everyone can go and grab the food they like.
-Education: Oregon Food Bank provides education programs such as nutrition & cooking class and gardening class. People can learn how to eat healthily and what they can make out of what they have. Also, people can learn how to grow food in order to be self-sufficient.
Oregon Food Bank started its journey back in 1988 when Interagency Food Bank and Oregon Food Share merged together.
Oregon Food Bank collects food from farmers, individuals, retailers, manufacturers, and the government.
Then they distribute that food through a "Statewide Network of 21 Regional Food Banks and approximately 1,200 food assistance sitesserving all of Oregon and Clark County, Washington". - Oregon Food Bank website
Programs
-Action Center: All the collected foods go through the process of sorting and repacking in order to get ready to be distributed or sent out to free food markets and pantries. They have two warehouses in the different location, one is located in Portland and the other one is located in Beaverton. They need people to volunteer every day and they have up to five sessions a day depends on how much food they need to work on in order to send those to their communities.
-Free Food Market: Each warehouse does free food market to share food with the community. Everyone can go and grab the food they like.
-Education: Oregon Food Bank provides education programs such as nutrition & cooking class and gardening class. People can learn how to eat healthily and what they can make out of what they have. Also, people can learn how to grow food in order to be self-sufficient.
-Portland Volunteer Action Center(warehouse)
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-Beaverton Volunteer Action Center(warehouse)
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What I did
I volunteered for repacking in one located in Portland. It's is kind of fast pase working but it is simple and easy to do. No one makes you to rush and get tired. If you focus on what you are doing then later you will find a huge box full of the foods that you work on.
I volunteered for repacking in one located in Portland. It's is kind of fast pase working but it is simple and easy to do. No one makes you to rush and get tired. If you focus on what you are doing then later you will find a huge box full of the foods that you work on.
Volunteer for food distribution
Free Food Market plays a big role in distributing food to the community. They get foods from Oregon Food Bank and also from farmers, individuals, retailers, manufacturers, and the government to share with their communities.
What: Harvest Share shares free fresh fruits, vegetables, and other food items that are donated through Oregon Food Bank with PSU students and the greater PSU community. Their main goal of this program is to increase student access to healthy food options and to reduce student food insecurity.
Who: All PSU students, faculty, staff, and community members. Where: Outside Shattuck Hall on the Park Blocks. When: Second Monday of the month at noon. What I did
10:30 - 11:30: We repacked the fruits and vegetables that we got from the Oregon Food Bank. It was already repacked but since it's big, we split into two little bags so that we can share with more people. 11:30 - 12:00: Officers gave a job to all volunteers. Jobs are the distributor, back-up, breaking boxes to recycle and people who stock the foods for distributors. 12:00-1:00: We started distributing foods. People who came for the Harvest Share were placed in a different group of people by the time they came. 1:00 - 1:30: We started cleaning as the food are almost all distributed. We shared some of the rest of the foods and gave those to the PSU food pantry. *This link will lead you to PSU website in order to apply for volunteering.
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What: Tualatin Valley Gleaners shares foods that they get donated from Oregon Food Bank and their partners with the community, especially low-income individuals and families who're annual incomes are lower than $35,000.
Who: Anyone who would like to join. ($15 monthly fee) Where: Near Sunset TC 9100 SW Wilshire St. Portland, OR 97229 When: Every Saturday from 12 to 3 PM. What I did
10:00 - 10:30: The space we use is for cafeteria so we needed to set the tables and chairs for the food market. 10:30 - 12:00: As the foods were delivered, we needed to move those to the inside of the building in order to distribute. At 12 pm, the officers gave a couple of announcement mostly about their community and gave a job to volunteers. 12:00 - 2:00: As people came in officers gave them a token that has a number on it and people who're number was called could go inside and get the foods they want. Lots of boxes were coming out from the space so some volunteers needed to break those to recycle. 2:00 - 4:00: We started cleaning up the messes and garages that were created from distributing foods. We put the tables and chairs back so people can use them for Sunday service. *This link will lead you to TVG website in order to apply for volunteering.
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Personal Reflection
Food makes me happy and it makes me excited to decide what to eat. However, there are people who are struggling with making a decision about what to eat for the next meal because of their financial situation. Sometimes, even I have a hard time to choose what to eat for my meal because I am a student and dependent on the money that my parents send for a month. I had to get a cheap food or just skipped the meal. It is really sad and stressful when I had to make a hard decision about what food I need to eat.
Oregon Food Bank and free food markets are here to solve the problem, and I am glad that I get to volunteer for them. People who come to get foods say thank you although I am just a volunteer, not a donator. Carrying heavy objectives to prepare for the food market makes me tired and sometimes I ask myself 'Why do I have to put my best efforts to this?'. But when I see people's appreciation, the joy from it cannot be compared to anything in the world and it makes me really happy and I feel like I am a meaningful and useful person to someone.
Before I started doing volunteering, I thought I was going to do only for this project. But now, it became a very personal thing. I know people who volunteer for this program and I know people who come to get food. I became a part of their community and I do something to help them. Since I am an international student who is living far from their home country, I wanted to find a place that feels like my home. Now, I finally found a place that reminds me of my home and I am ready to serve for them.
It was truly a great eye-opening opportunity.
Oregon Food Bank and free food markets are here to solve the problem, and I am glad that I get to volunteer for them. People who come to get foods say thank you although I am just a volunteer, not a donator. Carrying heavy objectives to prepare for the food market makes me tired and sometimes I ask myself 'Why do I have to put my best efforts to this?'. But when I see people's appreciation, the joy from it cannot be compared to anything in the world and it makes me really happy and I feel like I am a meaningful and useful person to someone.
Before I started doing volunteering, I thought I was going to do only for this project. But now, it became a very personal thing. I know people who volunteer for this program and I know people who come to get food. I became a part of their community and I do something to help them. Since I am an international student who is living far from their home country, I wanted to find a place that feels like my home. Now, I finally found a place that reminds me of my home and I am ready to serve for them.
It was truly a great eye-opening opportunity.
PSU university study goals
Diversity
When I went for volunteering, either Oregon Food Bank or free food markets I saw a lot of people from different countries. It was more than I have seen before in Portland. I got to see the difference in cultures, appearances, personalities, and more. But one thing that was in common was they all have a good heart. Although it was different how to act and how to talk but in them they had a good heart to respect other people and appreciate other people in their community. It was not only diversity in country. I got to see people who have different financial status, physical ability, age, gender, and more. However, it was same that they all have a good heart in them. They really care about their community and they are willing to do more to help others. Understanding diversity, sometimes it's difficult to do. But what I learned was as long as I respect them and show them my respect, they will do in same way and it makes even a better community. Communication
People don't know what to do especially those who come for the first time. In my case, I did not know what to do in the beginning but because officers and other experienced volunteers helped me by communicating, I could figure out what my role was. As soon as I figured my job, I could focus and work more efficiently. Communication is a core of teamwork and good teamwork leads to a great result. I think this is how the programs could've existed for years. I learned how to communicate with other volunteers and try to find what way could be the best and the most efficient way to work. |
Critical Thinking
Distributing food seems an easy task to do, but actually, we had to do a lot of work to do in order to distribute the food. The organizations have to look for more partners so they can secure the number of foods that they get it from and they can even help more people in their community. The volunteers also have to think and work a lot for this program as well. We need to think what is going to happen next such as "how many people are expected to come today?" so we can decide how much food we are going to distribute per person or family, All the volunteers need to figure out what they need to do when their given task is done so the program runs smoothly. My job was setting up the place and breaking the boards to recycle but I needed to do it in a timely manner and I needed to be ready to help other people whenever they need. I learned to anticipate the possible result and making a decision in order to do the task to help my community more efficiently. Social Responsibility
Basically, all the volunteers and workers who serve for this program also other programs are here for benefit of society, meaning to make a better society. As a part of this community, we need to have a social responsibility to keep this program running and also looking for more people to help. Without our responsibility, this program and other non-profit organizations wouldn't exist for years and our society can become a place where people can't live together. I learned that although my work seems easy to do and it seems like a small task to do, it actually a way to help my society and I need to be responsible and be proud of myself. |