2022 Impact & Achievements
Celebrating all that was done in 2022
Watch this video to hear from our Executive Director about what our community made possible in 2022.
“2022 will be a year I will never forget. It taught me many lessons about the power of stepping in faith toward our dreams and what is possible when we do, as well as the power of a community coming together around an idea.
I am still in awe of how you helped us keep ahead of the rapid growth we were experiencing in the need for our services and the generosity that poured in to help us raise $3.5 million for our capital campaign in 15 months!
Thank you for partnering with us on behalf of our hardworking neighbors’ next door. With over 90% of our guests housed, we are passionate about keeping them that way. We believe that with your help, we are helping to prevent an increase in homelessness in Central Oregon. The groceries and food support we offer our guests can help them redirect dollars toward their rent, utilities, gas to get to work, or to navigating the unexpected curveballs life throws at us all.
2023 will be a fun year of watching dreams come to life as we reimagine food relief and create a Community Store and Kid’s Korner Store. Thank you for positioning us to stay on the front lines of hunger in Central Oregon.
You are The Giving Plate, and together, we are fighting hunger and feeding hope.”— Ranae Staley, Executive Director
LET’S CELEBRATE 2022 TOGETHER!
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In 2022, we celebrated our 12th year of feeding our neighbors in need.
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Since opening in 2010, we have helped 85,790 families with a week’s worth of food – equating to 6.4 million pounds of food!
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In 2022, we helped over 9,800 families (totaling 31,720 people) with groceries they could take home to fill their fridges and pantries; this is a 43% increase over 2021. 91% of those individuals helped in this program are our hardworking and housed neighbors next door, doing all they can to stay that way.
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In 2022, we gave out over 14,700 bags of food to children through our Kid’s Korner program, which supplies supplemental food to children in addition to the groceries their families receive. This is a 55% increase over 2021.
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In 2022, we gave out 11,787 weekend-food bags to K-12 students in the Bend-La Pine school district through our Backpacks for Bend program. This is a 135% increase over 2021.
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The initial plan, in 2021, was to renovate the 1st Street building to become the future home of The Giving Plate. A space where we could bring our services and food warehousing under one roof while offering a Community Store & Kid’s Korner Store for our guests to shop with dignity.
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In August 2021, we purchased an 11,100 SF building located at 1212 NE 1st Street, Bend. Then in October 2021, we launched a capital campaign to raise $3.5 million to pay for building renovations, loan reduction, and outfitting of the facility. One of the first backers of the project was the Deschutes County Commissioners, who awarded us $500,000 in American Relief Plan Act Funds. Other Legacy Sponsors include Hayden Homes, Anjulicia Foundation, Pahlisch Homes, Jane Lang Family Charitable Foundation, and Joseph M. Schenck Foundation. In October 2022, thanks to “angel donors” in the local community, we were given funding to pay off the loan on our building! And thanks to our generous Central Oregon community members, just 15 months after launching our capital campaign, and in the last few days of 2022, we brought in the final funds to reach our campaign goal!
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In 2022, we provided 355, $25 gas/propane cards to guests, which is funded through the Oregon Bottle Drop’s Blue Bag Program. Come and grab a blue bag and help us keep people warm year-round.
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If you don't know about this incredible local nonprofit, you should take a minute to learn. They launched their first food collection in October 2015 with an easy, door-to-door food collection system that offers people a simple way to be part of the solution to food insecurity in our local community. They have grown to be a strong force of good in Bend.
At The Giving Plate, we are fortunate to benefit from Bend Food Project’s food collections. The partnership we have with them has allowed us to grow to become who we are and also know we can step confidently toward our vision to open a community store to serve our region.
Their partnership is key to our mission. We are thrilled to celebrate them and share that in 2022 they were our number one partner for food donations. In 2022, they donated over 253,000 pounds of food to us, which is 33% of our total in-kind food donations! Wow!!
We appreciate each and every person who fills green bags, collects them, sorts the food, and more. It takes a village to feed one, and we have a phenomenal village and team partnered with us with Bend Food Project. To learn more, go to: www.bendfoodproject.com
At The Giving Plate, we are fortunate to benefit from Bend Food Project’s food collections. The partnership we have with them has allowed us to grow to become who we are and also know we can step confidently toward our vision to open a community store to serve our region in 2024.
Their partnership is key to our mission. We are thrilled to celebrate them and share that in 2023, they were our number-one partner for food donations. In 2023, they donated nearly 288,000 pounds of food to us, which is 31% of our total in-kind food donations! Wow!!
We appreciate each and every person who fills green bags, collects them, sorts the food, and more. It takes a village to feed one, and we have a phenomenal village in the team partnered with us through the Bend Food Project. To learn more, go to: www.bendfoodproject.com
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For Easter 2022, we were able to provide over 220 children with Easter Baskets.
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Over Thanksgiving, we helped 428 families with turkeys and sides they could take home and share with their loved ones around their own tables. During December, we helped 821 families with turkeys and sides for Christmas. This is all in addition to the normal groceries we provide our guests when they visit.
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2022 was our inaugural year as the nonprofit beneficiary of the annual Salmon Run put on by Lay It Out Events. An incredible 730 runners took the trails and streets around the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. The Giving Plate received $1,495 from this run.
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Our first major fundraiser event was a wonderful success. Held at The Riverhouse on July 23rd, we had 287 people in attendance and raised $140,980 for our hunger-relief programs on the evening of the event! Thank you to our sponsors: Les Schwab Tires, Cascade Hasson Sotheby’s Realty, Pangea Chiropractic, Steakhouse Elite, Shelly Gibbs Consulting, TDS, and First Interstate Bank.
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In 2022, our Jingle Christmas outreach umbrellaed four-holiday events. At the start of December, we participated in the Bend Christmas Parade with a beautiful float showcasing our upcoming Santa’s Plate event. We had four lucky families sponsored for $2,500 Jingle Makeovers by generous community sponsors. We had 850 low-income children attend our annual Jingle Store, where they got to “shop” at no cost to them for gifts to give to those they loved, allowing them to participate in that circle of giving that makes the holidays so special. And for the first time ever, we opened our Jingle event to the community with our Santa’s Plate event. We had 512 children and their families attend this special Christmas event, where they walked through holiday landscapes to meet princesses, Buddy the Elf, Mr. & Mrs. Claus, and more. At the end, they created keepsake plates to put their Christmas cookies on for Santa. This new event helped us raise just over $10,000 to help cover the costs of our Jingle Store.
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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! Thank you to all our donors for giving so generously to help us win this additional funding!
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In 2023, we will begin renovating our building on 1st Street in Bend, which will become our central distribution warehouse. This will be where the food for our hunger-relief programs is warehoused. We will also have office space and open space for groups to gather. We are actively looking for a space to house our Community Store and Kid’s Korner Store. We hope to have these open in 2023 to offer our guests a shopping experience that is similar to what we all have when we go and get our groceries at the local grocery store. In the meantime, we will continue to serve our community at our current location at 1245 SE 3rd Street, C7, Bend (in Scandia Plaza). We are excited to bring our vision to life for our community in 2023!
“Our home burned down in the Bootley fire in 2021, and we moved to Bend for a fresh start. It has been a wonderful whirlwind of mishaps and misfortune, but The Giving Plate has been here for our family with great food and better hearts. We really thank you for what you do!”
“I’m a single dad with three part-time jobs and a lot of bills that I’m falling behind on. Being able to buy groceries after paying rent is so difficult. So the groceries The Giving Plate offers are very much appreciated. My daughter has gone to bed hungry at times, and it makes me sad. She relies on school for breakfast and lunch.”
“You have been a blessing through these tough economic times. We prefer to do for ourselves, so food banks are not something we have been to often. Your staff and volunteers make it easy and non-judgemental, helpful people. We appreciate your care and compassion.”
To link arms with us in the fight against hunger in 2023, click here…