2023 Impact & Achievements
Celebrating all that was achieved in 2023
“2023 marked a year of resilience and unwavering support at The Giving Plate as we worked to finish our two construction projects amidst numerous hurdles while experiencing an ever-growing demand for food. Despite the increased need for our food relief programs, your generosity kept us on the frontlines, feeding our neighbors in need. Your contributions helped us keep up with serving the record number of people we assisted, as well as ensuring a strong finish to the year. With our Distribution Center and Community Store’s unveiling by our 14th birthday in April 2024, we’re excited about the future. With each donation, you empower us to make a real impact in the lives of our neighbors right here in Bend. Thank you for sharing your heart and generosity and for being the driving force behind our mission.”
— Ranae Staley, Executive Director
LET’S CELEBRATE 2023 TOGETHER!
2023 Food Love Report - Click Here
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In 2023, we celebrated our 13th year of feeding our neighbors in need.
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Since opening in 2010, we have helped 98,902 families with a week’s worth of food – equating to 7.4 million pounds of food!
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In 2023, The Giving Plate assisted 13,112 families (totaling 41,927 individuals) with groceries, a remarkable 33% increase from 2022. Notably, 95% of those served are hardworking and housed neighbors, emphasizing our commitment to supporting those striving to maintain their homes. During Thanksgiving, we extended our support to 696 families, providing $30 gift cards for turkeys and sides in addition to the regular groceries we offer during their visits. This ensured they could share a festive meal with their loved ones around their own tables.
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In 2023, The Giving Plate distributed 18,435 bags of food to children through our Kid’s Korner program, which includes 2,629 meals provided to our friends at Boys & Girls Club. Kid’s Korner, which experienced a significant 25% increase from 2022, ensures that children have their own food to supplement groceries received by families, emphasizing our commitment to ensuring children have access to nutritious food.
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In 2023, we launched our newest program, Kid's Korner Mobile Pantry thanks to our generous sponsors:
PacificSource, The Peaks 360, Sisters Ace Hardware, Pahlisch Homes, The Roger & Priscilla Schultz Family Foundation, and Fortress Construction.Our Kid’s Korner Mobile Pantry is on a mission to create an engaging grocery shopping experience for children aged 0-17 from low-moderate income families. Every Saturday, we bring the store to different cities in Central Oregon, allowing kids to explore the pantry, choose their groceries, and learn about financial literacy in a fun way. Beyond groceries, children can earn 'Kid's Korner Cash' through acts of kindness, leading to the opportunity to choose from special prizes. Our program aims to foster independence, financial literacy, and a sense of community while providing a playful introduction to smart money management for kids.
In 2023, we served a total of 377 kids in Central Oregon through this program.
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In 2023, The Giving Plate distributed 15,634 weekend food bags to 550 K-12 students in the Bend-La Pine school district through our Backpacks for Bend program, marking a substantial 33% increase from 2022. Collaborating with Bend LaPine Schools and Family Access Network, we proactively identify students at risk of weekend hunger, ensuring they don't face the reality of empty bellies over the weekends.
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In 2023, we provided 93, $30 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 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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Easter 2023: The Giving Plate brought joy to over 212 children by providing Easter Baskets, ensuring smiles and happiness for our youngest guests 12 and under.
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In 2023, The Giving Plate was honored as the nonprofit beneficiary for the second consecutive year at the annual Salmon Run by Lay It Out Events. With an impressive turnout of 839 runners exploring the trails and streets around the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon, and generous support from Pacific Power as our aid station sponsor with a $2,500 sponsorship, the event contributed $4,275 in total between our racers and sponsors. This funding directly supports our hunger-relief programs.
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Our second annual Red Carpet Gala fundraiser event was a tremendous success. Held at The Riverhouse on September 16th, we had 322 people in attendance and raised $137,970 for our hunger relief programs on the evening of the event! Thank you to our sponsors for helping us share the magic of the evening: Lithia & Driveway, RBC Wealth Management, Hayden Homes, Les Schwab, Odyssey Martial Arts, Idaho First Bank, First Interstate Bank, Pahlisch Homes, and the City of Bend.
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In 2023, our Jingle Christmas outreach umbrellaed three holiday events. We had four lucky families sponsored for $2,500 Jingle Makeovers by generous community sponsors (Real Life Church, Grace Bible & the DeRose Family). We had 721 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. A generous donor gave 273 kids a chance to attend our second annual Santa’s Plate event for free, where they walked through holiday landscapes to meet princesses, Buddy the Elf, Mr. & Mrs. Claus, and more. In the end, they created keepsake plates to put their Christmas cookies on for Santa. An impressive 813 tickets were purchased for this event, helping us raise funding to cover the costs of our free Jingle Store.
2024 | Big things are coming!
By April 2024, after 2.5 years of dedicated work, The Giving Plate is thrilled to open the doors in our two new locations, our Community Store and our Distribution Center. This marks a significant step in our mission to serve our neighbors in need in innovative ways. Anticipating exciting changes in how we support the community and receive food donations, we look forward to walking this journey hand-in-hand with our community in the new year!
“I have four adopted children. They are all relatives and I first started taking care of them on my own without any foster children benefits which was very hard. The Giving Plate was immensely helpful with grocery food and has even helped me provide for the kids’ Christmas each year.”
“You guys have helped me years ago and now, recently. I’m currently pregnant and just stopped working but I need to save for next month’s rent. My food stamps stopped because I was working, but this helps so much because I’m in between. So grateful.”
“I wasn’t expecting much but I was absolutely amazed by the food box and quality of items and how long they lasted for us. It’s a hard time for our family and we don’t usually need help. I was embarrassed at first. They made me feel so welcomed and cared to help. It is such an amazing blessing to not worry about food. Thank you.”
To link arms with us in the fight against hunger in 2024, click here…