PCC community steps up for food security

From register round-ups to 1250 pounds of locally milled flour, PCC members, shoppers and community partners joined an all-hands movement to increase access to food in our region. The effort raised $516,500 in cash and in-kind donations, making a significant impact.

“It helped to provide support at a very critical time for hunger relief organizations and the people those hunger organizations are serving,” said David Bobanick, executive director of Harvest Against Hunger, a foundational partner in the effort.

The campaign was sparked by recent interruptions and changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, but addresses a broader need: Food insecurity remains a persistent challenge in our region. Visits to hunger relief organizations have steadily increased in recent years as resources have declined.

PCC launched a seed fund in November with $50,000 to support food purchases for hunger relief organizations, and invited partners to meet the need through financial or in-kind donations.

From individuals to organizations and businesses, the community joined in with enthusiasm and great generosity. And because the need does not end with the holidays, neither will the work.

PCC members and shoppers raised more than $200,000 between November and the beginning of January through donations and “rounding up” purchases at cash registers in PCC stores. Community members donated an additional $22,000+ directly to Harvest Against Hunger (also a partner in Growing for Good) and through cash register roundups at Central Co-op.

Knowing the need was urgent, Harvest Against Hunger, which handles administration for the relevant contracts, fronted the money to hunger relief organizations “so they could do the work they needed to do” before it had received the pledged dollars. “It was critical that they got that as quickly as possible, they were literally buying food with it,” Bobanick said.

BECU matched PCC’s initial $50,000 contribution. As BECU foundation board president Jennifer Teunon put it, “cooperatives are built on the idea that we can do more together than we can alone.”

Organically Grown Company, a Portland-based PCC supplier, contributed $10,000. Others contributed money, food and sometimes both, including $15,000 from Charlie’s Produce, $140,000 worth of organic baby food pouches from Nature’s Path and roughly $5,000 worth of all-purpose flour from Cairnspring Mills, among many more. Fellow co-ops like Central Co-op were essential partners. Reflecting the multiple crises that struck in the holiday season, some additional produce donations were derailed by floods that devastated many regional farms.

A full 100% of donated funds went directly to hunger relief organizations, including food banks, community kitchens, mutual aid organizations and more.

More than 100 organizations were reached in the first stage of the program, including collaborations to support around 275 community food boxes sent out before Thanksgiving through United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) and Community Kitchen – That Brown Girl Cooks!  Volunteers cooked, packed, delivered supplies, and otherwise worked together to bring food to their communities. Additionally, Growing for Good provided an additional $100,000 in contracts to provide local hunger relief organizations with produce form local farms (learn more about the program here).

The next step of the work includes creating a central hub for purchasing and delivering products to support the hunger relief system. It will provide longer-term space to source and store foods. Meanwhile, “round up” donations at PCC store registers are once again supporting Growing for Good, the partnership supporting resilience in the local food system.

We greatly appreciate these partnerships and supports and will keep you updated on future efforts. As Krish Srinivasan, PCC’s President and CEO, said, “As a community-owned food co-op, our mission has always been bigger than selling groceries.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated since it was originally published.