The other week, a bunch of b&i team members headed off to the Oregon Food Bank.
We spent two hours at their facility in N. Portland bagging food alongside a class of about 40 flight attendants-in-training. We bagged zucchini, pears, and peaches (a rarity at the food bank because of how easily they bruise!) at the speed of light. (Seriously - we were scheduled to be there 2.5 hours and did all the work they had for us in two. Oh yeah!)
Our numbers for the night:
Pounds of pears bagged: 2,972
Pounds of cucumbers bagged: 12,147
Pounds of peaches bagged: 4,316
Pounds of food bagged in total: 19,435!!
19,435 pounds of food would make up about 16,196 meals (you know, if the meal was just made up of pears, cucumbers, and peaches. Still!!), which came out to about 360 meals per volunteer. Not too shabby, team.
We learned about the organization that night, too - they distribute food all across Oregon and into Clark County, Washington. The food we bagged was food from farmer co-ops that donate their food. 40% of the Food Bank's food is donated, some is purchased, and food drives make up the rest. Food drives bring in food they wouldn't get otherwise, so participate in your local food drives! Learning all this really brought home how important facilities like this are and how useful our help can truly be!
We're so excited to have our Volunteer Committee up and running again, so we can serve our community like this regularly. Find out how you can volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank, too!
