An effort to reach all of the households in the city limits arrives Saturday as volunteers attempt to boost the number of food items coming into the Philomath organization that operates the local food bank and gleaners programs.
Tagged as the Philomath March on Hunger, the food collection effort involves the Feb. 22 distribution of food collection bags to local households. A week later on March 1, bags that were filled with food items will be picked up, sorted and donated to Philomath Community Services, which operates Nancy’s Food Pantry and Philomath Community Gleaners.
Volunteers are needed to help with the effort.
“I think this food drive is a great way of building community through a collective effort,” said Teresa Nielson, who has been involved with PCS for years. “It’s a wonderful way to have anyone who wants to participate — be it by donating one can or one item or whatever they feel they’d like to donate — I think it’s a great way to be involved in making life better for someone else.”
Those interested in volunteering can meet at Philomath City Hall at 9 a.m. Saturday to help distribute collection bags and flyers or sign up ahead of time through this link. The food bag donations will be picked up March 1 with volunteers again meeting at 9 a.m. at City Hall before heading out. And for those who want to sort and box donated items, that effort begins at 10:30 a.m. March 1 at Philomath Community Church’s “hanger.”
The food drive is a response to the growing number of people in the Philomath vicinity who are experiencing challenges with food insecurity. Jodi Russell, PCS board vice president, said a number of families and individuals have to make decisions on how to spend their money with several falling into the low-income or poverty level designations.
“The real struggles are everything else in this world going up, including food,” Russell said. “Having to make that sacrifice or that choice — do I get gas to go to work or do I go out to a grocery store and pay for food? So, they’re really having to find other resources with just not a lot out there.”
Russell, who has been a volunteer within the organization for years, has seen firsthand how people’s needs have increased. Thus, organizing the food drive became a priority.
“March on Hunger is huge nationally and I wanted to really start promoting some of those things that could help not only for Philomath but really to get the word out for us and be more publicized because not a lot of people know about PCS,” Russell said.
PCS receives a significant amount of food items for the gleaners program through Linn Benton Food Share. But those distributions have been inconsistent, especially since additional funding that had been made available during the pandemic have gone away.
“Some weeks, there’s a lot of food and some weeks, there aren’t and so we’re working with local businesses and we’re applying for grants,” Russell said.
Each month, grant applications are sent in with hopes of receiving funds to be able to purchase items to fill up food boxes that go to folks in the program — an area that’s “pretty much west of 53rd Street,” Russell said.
Russell mentioned the high level of local support from businesses and organizations.
“This last year was really just getting the word out of who we were and reaching out to some of the local businesses that are just amazing at helping us out and wanting to make sure that we’re taken care of,” she said. “And you know, this is an old logging town and so a lot of logging companies have been gracious enough to write us checks to help with the food poverty and insecurity so it’s been really amazing. But it’s been a long road the last couple of years.”
Sharon Thornberry, PCS executive director, said that a food insecurity report from the Oregon State University Policy Analysis Lab revealed “a number of striking increases from the previous report of a near doubling of the rural food insecurity rate.” Couples with children, single men and those age 65 and older saw notable increases, she added.
Eighteen sections of town to be covered
For March on Hunger, organizers took a map of Philomath and divided it up into 18 sections for volunteers to tackle with the delivery of the flyers and collection bags.
“They will be given a number of bags — anywhere from 50 to 100 — that they will be distributing from porch to porch,” Nielson explained. “There’s no contact, we don’t knock on doors or anything else. We just place it on the doorknob.”
The flyers will include information, including a rundown of the most-needed items.
“They can fill it with whatever products they’d like to donate and then place it on their porch by 9 a.m. on the 1st so that we can come by and pick it up,” Nielson said.
Volunteers will take the filled bags to Philomath Community Church’s “hanger,” which is located behind La Rockita, to sort and box the donated items.
Nielson believes it’s been a number of years since a community food drive of this magnitude has taken place.
“I think it’s going to be good for us to make the sacrifices to choose to participate, whether it be placing a bag of food outside our door or coming down on the 22nd or the 1st and either helping to sort food or picking up food from the doorsteps or whatever way people can serve,” she said. “I think it’s going to have a positive effect on our community.”
Nielson estimated that the collection bags will be distributed to about 2,000 households. As a result, organizers of the food drive are hoping for at least 50 volunteers to help lessen the load on those covering various neighborhoods.
“If we have enough volunteers, a two-hour slot will be more than enough to do the area that they are assigned,” Nielson said. “But if we have fewer volunteers, those 18 areas still have to be covered but hopefully we will not have to cross that bridge.”
Russell and Nielson both mentioned a few groups have stepped up already to contribute to the effort but many more are needed.
“We’ve got a good base but we are still open for more individuals,” Nielson said. “I would like to see more people participate, if for nothing else just to feel like a part of something important.”
Neighborhoods outside of the city limits that want to participate are invited to email philomathfooddrive@gmail.com to request collection bags.
Trying to connect with Philomath’s youth
Hallie Morrison, a Philomath High School senior, has contributed to the effort by making a youth connection, Nielson said.
“We don’t just have a bunch of adults but we’re encouraging youth groups and 4-H groups and high school groups and high school kids and middle school kids and, among the younger ones with their parents to participate in the food drive and to make service a part of their life and to do something where it requires them to reach out and have an opportunity to serve someone,” Nielson said. “I think it’s a great thing.”
At the high school through Morrison’s efforts, details about the food drive were included in the morning announcements.
“We’ve even got a QR code and so the kids were able to sign up to volunteer on their phone right there in the hallway on the bulletin board at school,” Nielson said. “She’s been a huge asset in helping us make that leap of connecting with the youth of our community.”
Again, those who would like to sign up can do so online at this link or by scanning the QR code that’s been inserted into this story above. Nielson said volunteers can also just show up at Philomath City Hall at 9 a.m. Saturday. People with questions can reach out via email to philomathfooddrive@gmail.com.
Said Nielson, “I’ve just seen the great things that PCS has done for our community and I’m very, very excited to support them in whatever way I can to make things easier and to raise awareness of food insecurity.”
For those who would rather donate money for Philomath Community Services to purchase items, that can be done through the organization’s website.
