GRESHAM Ore. (KPTV) – A food pantry in Gresham is asking their community for help following significant USDA funding cuts, according to the group behind it.
The food pantry can be found on a bus parked at Centennial High School, loaded with food and other items for families in need. Students started the pantry in 2014 at the high school and it later became a nonprofit called Food for Families.
Executive director Ellie Mangum said Food For Families distributed food to around 60 or 70 households last year, but the need has increased now.
“Now we’re regularly serving about 100, so we’ve seen quite a big uptick in the amount of people we’re serving,” Mangum said.
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The nonprofit has also run into a problem, it relies on the Oregon Food Bank for food, and USDA has halted $500 million in deliveries to food banks across the country.
“The Oregon Food Bank was able to provide us with quite a bit of free food, so I wasn’t having to spend as much money on food, and now that has shifted to me having to spend almost double or triple the amount on food at every distribution,” Mangum said.
Food for Families started an online fundraiser where people can help, but Mangum said if the nonprofit doesn’t reach its goal, changes will have to be made, which could affect those who need the help most.
“We’re really hoping that the community is able to support us this way; we’ll just have to scale back on the number of items we provide our families, so instead of maybe offering five days of food, we might only be able to provide three days worth of food,” Mangum said.
Food For Families distribution is every second and fourth Wednesday of the month.
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