While we’re all about excellent food and seeing everyone at the Cully Pig Roast, we’re also about helping out those in our community that are less fortunate. Please read below about our community partner, the Northeast Community Food Program, and remember to bring a food donation to the pig roast on July 19th.
We reached out to Jon Makler, Program Manager for the Northeast Community Food Program, to discuss the program’s mission and the people it serves.
Could you please tell us about the history and mission of the Northeast Emergency Food Program?
NEFP was founded in 1983 as a part of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO), which had been founded about 10 years earlier as a collaboration of faith leaders who wanted to join together in action regarding issues like hunger, homelessness and environmental issues. The mission of NEFP, like EMO, has always been to provide assistance to our neighbors in need. The work has evolved over the years, especially during exceptional times like the COVID pandemic. We see free food as offering health and economic benefits so that families can thrive in our community. Nutrition allows children to learn, which is critical to lifelong success. Nutrition allows people of all ages to avoid or manage chronic medical conditions. The cost of offering free food is much less than the cost of “solving” the problems that arise when people can’t get an education, can’t afford their homes, or need lifelong care for diabetes and other diseases.
How many people does NEFP serve per week?
NEFP serves approximately 1,000 unique families per week. On average, each family has about 5 members. We serve about 50,000 pounds of food per week. The retail value of food is about $5/pound overall so a family that comes here every week might be receiving $1,000 savings on cost of living that they can put to rent, utilities, medicine, gas, whatever they need.
What is the most needed food item for the people you serve?
This is hard to answer. The items that our clients value most are (frozen) meat and fresh produce as well as fridge items like milk and eggs. Among the shelf-stable items, rice and oil are the most prized, followed by dry beans (pinto and black). We get excited when the supply chain brings us peanut butter and nuts because of the nutritional value.
Are there any food items that are needed but not donated very often?
For food drives, I think the ready-to-eat items like canned chili would be my first suggestion. These are really valued by the clients who are living on the street or with very limited cooking resources, such as residents in transitional housing. We need 300 of something to serve on a pantry day because we have so many clients. But the ready-to-eat stuff we deliver to shelters with 30-150 residents we can use in any quantity.
What do you want people to know about the people NEFP serves?
Our clients are, literally, everybody you can imagine. It can be a high roller in a fancy car whose life just fell apart. It can be somebody who is in long-term poverty and only eats what they can get for free from pantries like ours. It can be a graduate student at PSU who is putting all of their income toward student loans but one day will cure cancer. 97218 is the most common zip code among our clients and, like the area, has a high percentage of Spanish-speaking families. In terms of geography, most come from Northeast Portland, especially east of 205 in Park Rose. We have a large group of elderly Chinese immigrants who take the 72 bus up from Lents to shop here. We feel like the United Nations (English is primary language for less than 20% of clients each week) and love adapting to serve people in their native language as much as possible.
We hope our conversation with this vital community service has helped you decide what items to donate and to understand the importance of your donation.