Food Bank Need Growing In Oregon

The Oregon Food Bank saw a 31% increase in 2024, in the number of people asking for food assistance, compared to the previous year.

"That means we’ve distributed over 91-million meals. That’s about 110-million pounds of food," noted Oregon Food Bank President Andrea Williams.  She said a coalition of advocacy groups support a bill creating a state-run food stamps-type program.

"SNAP is a federal program. It’s one of the most effective anti-poverty programs in the nation," she pointed out.  "However, we want to create a state-based one because there’s about 61,000 Oregonians who are excluded from utilizing the federal program."

Those include legal permanent residents and refugee families.  Williams blames the increase in food insecurity on rising prices and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance programs.  

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