PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The pandemic is a one-two punch to thousands of Oregonians who have lost their jobs and are struggling to feed their families, and it’s presenting a challenge for nonprofit organizations that help provide food, such as the Sunshine Division and the Oregon Food Bank.
At the Sunshine Division, the nonprofit has gone from helping 400 households a week to more than 40,000 a week, feeding more than 100,000 people as a result on a weekly basis.
With the pandemic, they can’t use volunteers inside their warehouses, so besides handing out food boxes with staples such as peanut butter, soup and bread, they are providing food boxes to other organizations to distribute and they have been making no contact home deliveries to thousands of families.
Officials with Sunshine Division say the nonprofit needs cash donations to help purchase food. In fact, they are delivering Thanksgiving dinner to more than 2,000 families for the first time this year.
The Oregon Food Bank is also in need of cash donations again due to COVID. They get food from major food suppliers; however, the Oregon Food Bank does need volunteers.
