Helping to Curb Hunger in Central Oregon

A number of years ago, I became involved with?Bend Food Project, a local nonprofit started by a group of friends in 2015 to help curb hunger in our area. Modeled after similar projects around the country, the door-to-door food collection system?is both simple and efficient. Donors buy an extra can or box of non-perishable food when they go shopping and place those in a green bag (in some other programs the bags are blue). The bag is picked up outside their front door every other month by neighborhood managers like me, who leave an empty one behind. The full bags are dropped off at the?Bend Food Project?collection site where volunteers are waiting to unload their cars, empty the bags, and sort all the food, which is used to stock to the local food pantry.

I love the simple, efficient approach that makes donating food to help curb hunger so easy. So, when the organization sent out an email asking for a volunteer to write profiles about volunteers who were doing even more to help out, I jumped. Below you’ll find one of the profiles I wrote up. I hope this inspires you as much as it does me.

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Five years ago, on November 8, 2018, Leona Vickers lost everything in the Paradise, California fire. At the age of 82, she had to start over in Bend, where her daughter lived. Someone in that situation, at that age, could be excused for feeling sorry for themselves or for focusing more on their plight than anything else. Instead, Leona thought about others who were going hungry.

“For years, I used to fill up my green bag every couple of months to help feed the hungry,” she told her daughter soon after her arrival here. “I feel bad not doing that.”

Leona, who was a nurse for 40 years, had never heard of the Bend Food Project at that point. Neither had her daughter. But they went online, and Leona immediately joined up as a food donor. “Before I knew it, I had Karen [Leona’s neighborhood coordinator] coming to the house every other month to collect my green bag and leave me a new one to fill,” says Leona, who was brought up to believe that everyone has a responsibility to help those not as fortunate.

Leona has figured out her own system for filling up her green bag to feed the hungry. “If I see something going on sale at Safeway or Grocery Outlet, I grab an extra one and throw it in the bag,” she says. “I always check the dates to make sure what I’m buying will still be good in two months when they pick it up and get it on the food pantry shelves.” She focuses on what kids might enjoy (like boxed juices) and proteins—spam, chicken in a can, those “wee hotdogs in a can,” and clams since she likes those. “I go down the line. If I see something that hits my fancy, I think maybe they would like that too.” She also concentrates on Mexican food to cater to the area’s Mexican population and regularly throws in a few goodies since “we all do have a sweet tooth.”

When she’s not grocery shopping to help feed the hungry, Leona stays busy. She visits with her two children, two adult grandkids, and three (and soon to be four) great-grands. She still plays piano despite arthritis in her hands, gardens despite having COPD, and on occasion even helps out when COCC’s nursing program needs volunteers for their mock situation training. When asked by students for her best piece of advice, she tells them “to remember when you come into a room to give your name, title, and particular job. Let them know you’re the person who will give them medicine if they’re in pain.”

Leona, who will turn 88 this month says she’s not as lively as she was in her day. But she sure is just as compassionate and just as giving. That’s what makes her happy. “I’m very pleased to have that green bag to fill up when I go shopping. I know it’s helping people out there who are not as lucky,” she says. “We’ve got made in the shade, and so we’ve got to share the wealth.”

This article was originally published on One Stop Writing Shop's blog at https://lindengross.com/2023/12/07/helping-to-feed-the-hungry/.