Around the Network – July 2015
Linn Benton Food Share
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St Vincent de Paul volunteers demonstrate shopping in
the
newly remodeled pantry (note the terrific new cart!).
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Another shopping-style conversion. Things are bustling at St Vincent de Paul
Pantry in Corvallis!
The intrepid Pantry
Board really, really wanted to convert to a shopping-style pantry, so they
undertook an entire remodel of their current pantry space in order to
accommodate their dream!
Their beautiful
“new” pantry now boasts wide aisles with shopper- friendly, labeled shelving,
spiffy easy-to-operate carts and an entire wall of commercial freezer and
refrigerator units – obtained with help from a NSF Shopping Style Conversion
grant!
Pantry Manager Olive Davis
reports very happy clients and volunteers.
She urges her crew to “Err on the side of more food!” when assisting
people as they shop.
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Bob, with Mid-Valley Gleaners,
proudly displays his prolific
tomato plant.
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Patio Project in 3rd Year.
When Susan James, Food Share’s Gleaning Program Coordinator, first had
the idea for a Patio Project – providing containers with a few donated plants
to housebound elderly and disabled gleaning program members – she thought she
would be lucky to get donations of a few hundred bedraggled end-of-season
plants.
Now in its 3rd year, program is
a resounding hit with both nursery staff donors and recipients.
By the end of June, Susan had scored 4,565
beautiful donated veggie plants from area nurseries, secured discounted potted
soil,
and
– with the help of Deb from Food For Lane
County – came up with the 5 gallon pots to plant the veggies.
Food Share’s 14 non-profit gleaning groups
went to work potting and distributing.
Soon, fresh home-grown veggies will be just a step away for many
delighted people.
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OFB Muesli, a key ingredient in Stephanie’s
Pie Cherry
Muesli dessert for June!
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Food demos hit the spot in Jefferson. The community of Jefferson straddles Linn and
Marion counties and boasts a relatively new but thriving food pantry at the
local Methodist Church.
The Jefferson
Community Food Pantry has a Leadership Team that is always looking for better
ways to assist the people they serve.
A
couple of months ago, they started hosting food demos – cooked up by a pantry
supporter who loves to make healthy meals from scratch for her 3
teenagers.
For each dinner demo,
Stephanie uses ingredients available during that day’s distribution and these
products are cleverly indicated on the pantry shelves for shoppers to easily
find.
