Oregon Growers Helping Address Hunger Issues

September is Hunger Action Month, and many pantries in Oregon are changing the way they serve food to the community.  Instead of giving out brown boxes filled with canned foods, many food pantries in Oregon are giving families an experience closer to shopping at a grocery store.  The Oregon Food Bank’s Jen Turner said the organization's Healthy Pantry Initiative is putting fresh food first and also inviting pantries to make their space warmer and more inviting.

"So that can mean offering samples or food demos in that pantry, inviting nice smells and tastes, and facilitating opportunities for conversation. The overarching vision for it is that food pantries don't have to be sort of depressing places."

Farmers across Oregon play a key role providing fresh fruits, vegetable and milk to local pantries.  According to the USDA roughly, 644,000 Oregonians were considered "food insecure," or struggled to put meals on the table at some point between 2013 and 2015.  Of those, more than 200,000 were children.

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