How it Works
The Grants Pass Food Project (Green Bag Program) is built around 2 types of volunteers –neighborhood coordinators, who work to coordinate people for the food donations. The community food donors purchase food for us over the course of the year (donating to the food bank every 2 months)
Sign up – coordinators get people in their circle of friends or colleagues to sign up to help- food donors. Each person gets a reusable green bag.
Shopping for the food bank – the food donors pick up items that the food bank needs (we provide lists of our most needed-items). Each time they shop and take it home and put in the green bag.
Leave the Bag at Your Front Door – the neighborhood coordinator will set up a time with their team to stop by to pick up the donations. They leave another empty bag to be filled for the next donation cycle.
Deliver the Food -The neighborhood coordinator picks up the green bags every two months (2nd Saturday of the even-months of the year).
Who Gets the Food
Why it Matters
Is there really a need for emergency food?
Unfortunately, yes. According to recent reports, about 16% of American households are considered “food insecure.”
It’s no exaggeration.
About 40 million U.S. residents—more than one in eight of our neighbors—receive food aid. One study determined that 25% of all households with children are likely to experience hunger or food insecurity. And that number goes up to over 30% in households with single parents.
Think of it this way: If you’re standing in a line in your community, one of the eight people around you has probably struggled with hunger. And if your child is in a class of 28 people, 7 of their classmates may not be sure where their next meal is coming from. It’s shocking.
Why are so many of our neighbors hungry?
It’s not because there’s a shortage of food. Studies show that America produces twice as much food as we need in order to feed everyone in our country.
So what’s the problem?
Poverty. Many of our neighbors simply can’t afford to buy enough food—even when they’re working. Feeding America reports that at least 1/3 of all American families who get help with food have one or more people working. The result is heartbreaking: “A growing number of people have to make difficult choices about what to spend their dwindling dollars on.”
Major U.S. hunger relief organization, Feeding America says:
- “More than 46% of our clients report having to choose between paying for utilities or heating fuel and food.”
- “39% said they had to choose between paying for rent or a mortgage and food.”
- “34% report having to choose between paying for medical bills and food.”
- “And 35% must choose between transportation and food.”
There’s a silver lining. Hidden in these alarming statistics is one bit of very good news: If 40 million Americans are “food insecure,” then about 285 million Americans are not.
This means that there are plenty of people who can afford to offer a little help. Not everyone, of course…but more than enough to make a huge difference. You may be one of them.
And that’s what the Medford Food Project is all about.
Become a Neighborhood Coordinator
Being a neighborhood coordinator does not mean you have to go to your neighbors. It can be a church group, office coworkers, book club. You are the organizer who interfaces with the food bank. The coordinator interfaces with the food bank staff to communicate the food needs for donations. You send out correspondence to your group to coordinate the pick up of donations.
