2021 Impact & Achievements
Celebrating all that was done in 2021
Watch this video to hear from our Executive Director about the special impacts and achievements of 2021.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR ANNUAL“FOOD LOVE” REPORT
2021 is a year to celebrate. After coming out of 2020 and the ups and downs of that year, we settled into our new “normal.” But in that space of settling in, we also began seriously looking to the future, knowing the spaces we currently have will not accommodate us much longer. With that pressing awareness, we began actively searching for a facility that would allow us to better live out our mission of “Feeding our neighbors in need with compassion and hospitality.” This year, we secured a new facility for us to operate from and have begun the permitting process to remodel it with hopes of moving into the building in early 2023. Not only did we get to share a lot of food love in 2021, but we also got to enter into an exciting new season of reimagining food relief for our neighbors in need. Listen to our executive director share more on the video posted on this page, and read more below to better understand what your support made possible in 2021.
LET’S CELEBRATE 2021 TOGETHER!
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In 2021, we celebrated our 11th year of feeding our neighbors in need.
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Since opening in 2010, we have helped 76,000 families with a week’s worth of food – equating to 5.75 million pounds of food!
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In 2021, we helped over 6,900 families with groceries to fill their fridges and pantries.
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In 2021, we gave out over 9,500 bags of food to children through our Kid’s Korner program in Bend, and we also provided 1,490 bags of food to children in our Kid’s Korner in Christmas Valley, Oregon.
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In 2021, we gave out 5,022 weekend-food bags to K-12 students in the Bend/La Pine school district through our Backpacks for Bend program.
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Easter 2021, we were able to give over 200 children Easter Baskets.
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Our Bend Food Project friends celebrated six years of gathering and sharing food. At their first collection in 2015, they brought in 2,752 pounds of food through 20 neighborhood coordinators. Currently, they have over 100 neighborhood coordinators and collected a total of 253,858 pounds of food in 2021!
Our partnership with our Bend Food Project friends has been truly empowering to us, and we are fortunate to have them walking alongside us in the fight against hunger.
Learn more about their program at www.bendfoodproject.com.
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On August 17th, 2021, we closed on an 11,100 s.f. space located at 1212 NE 1st Street, Bend. There is a lot of work to be done to get the facility ready for us to move in, but it is an exciting time for our community and organization.
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Over Thanksgiving, we helped 525 families with turkeys and sides that they could take home and share with their loved ones around their own tables. During December, we helped 718 families with turkeys and sides for Christmas. This is all in addition to the normal groceries we provide to our guests when they visit.
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Our 2021 Jingle events were a wonderful way to end 2021 and head into a new year. We had six families who were selected to receive $2,500 “Jingle Makeovers” by generous individuals/groups in Central Oregon, and we had one family selected as Jingle Makeover family in Christmas Valley through our North Lake County Kid’s Korner.
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Our annual Jingle Store was extra special this year as it went from just a shopping experience for children to an interactive Christmas wonderland. We had over 720 children come through our Jingle Store at The Riverhouse Convention Center to shop for gifts to give. It was a powerful and hope-filled end to the year.
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Thanks to our community’s generosity, we ended the year with the news that we won FIRST PLACE in The Source’s, Central Oregon Gives Campaign - which means we won an additional $15,000! To see the press releases go to >> KTVZ's Story and Bend Bulletin.
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In 2022, we will be expanding and beginning the remodel of our new building. This building will allow us to live out our mission of compassion and hospitality even better by offering us the space to open our new "Community Store". In spring 2023, we will no longer offer a "food box" program. We will replace it with a grocery program in our new "Community Store" in which guests will be allowed to shop for the food they want and need for their families. We will also be able to offer a fun and unique Kid's Korner store for the children to, once again, come inside to visit and do their own shopping. This shopping style of serving our guests will normalize the food-relief service we are providing. It is our hope and desire to assist in reducing the shame and stigma attached to accessing our services. It is one thing to give food to someone in need, but when you can figure out how to offer that food with dignity and compassion and truly show that you care, one quickly discovers that you are not just fighting hunger but feeding hope. To learn more about our Capital Campaign, go to www.thegivingplate.org/building.
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We announced our capital campaign officially in October 2021. In the last three months of the year, we raised 28% of the $3.5 million, and with our committed $500,000 from Deschutes County Commissioners, we are 42% of the way to funding our capital campaign! This is truly amazing. Thank you to all those who are giving generously to support this exciting project.
“We are really struggling right now to stay safe and keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. This is such a huge and positive help. My husband was in a bad accident and we lost our income and just trying to survive on so much less. Your organization is a Godsend in our lives right now. A million times, Thank you!”
“The Giving Plate has helped me and my family through times where I was the only one working and my husband was sick and injured. It has been a massive help to have good food through a time where we are just trying to make enough to pay the bills.”
“We are just going through some challenging times right now. My husband had to have emergency surgery in January and our out-of-pocket was $5,000 that we just do not have, so our medical bills are through the roof. Then our landlord decided to sell the house we were renting and gave us a 30-day in May. We barely found a place in time and it’s three times the rent we paid before. Way more money going out than coming in right now. So thank you so much for your help. We are fed and you help us so we can pay that rent and not be homeless.”
To link arms with us in the fight against hunger in 2022, click here…