Bend Food Project hits latest milestone: Collecting enough food for 1 million meals

Jul 18, 2023

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Food Project, a nonprofit focused on alleviating food insecurity in Central Oregon, has hit a major milestone: the collection of enough food to create over one million meals.

By contrast, their first collection event in October of 2015 collected food to create 2,100 meals.

“It’s an astonishing number,” said Larry Marceaux, of the Bend Food Project. “We never dreamed we could hit this goal of one million meals so soon. Central Oregonians have been quick to volunteer, and donors have been very generous.”

One million meals equates to over 1,250,000 pounds of food.

Donors are given a now ‘infamous green bag.” For two months, the donor keeps the bag in their pantry, and adds a can or two of non-perishable food after a trip to the grocery store. Every other month, a Neighborhood Coordinator picks up the bag from the front porch of the donor and transports the bags to a central location.

In 2015, the project was launched with 10 friends. Today there are 235 Neighborhood Coordinators who collect food from 3,600 donors every other month. The growth in volunteers/donors is critical, as the number of people who are food insecure is up 30 percent in the last year.

“Our goal this year,” states co-founder Sue Marceaux, "is to grow our volunteer/donor base, to keep up with the increasing need in our community. Given the high cost of living in Central Oregon, this need will only get larger."

Bend Food Project’s next Collection Event will be held in October. The Green Bags are delivered to a central location and sent from there to the Giving Plate distribution facility.

“We’re now aiming for that 2 million pound mark,” said Marceaux. “We’ve got a pretty impressive, giving community here.”

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