Community Spotlight: Hunger-Free Schools
Portland is our home. Like so many of you, our families have attended the schools here and witnessed firsthand the daily dedication of educators, bus drivers, school health professionals, cleaning staff, parent volunteers, lunchroom staff, and so many countless others. Schools here are a community that comes together around the central goal of improving children’s lives for the future, which all begins with adequate nutrition.
In Oregon, currently 4 in 10 schools provide meals at no charge in at least one school and tens of thousands of students eat school meals every day. What’s more, an estimated 316,000 kids in Oregon face food insecurity or hunger.
Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and Hunger-Free Schools continuously work to bridge the gap between children and nutrition - even during summer months and the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
You may have heard of Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon or Hunger-Free Schools before, as they do work in and outside of the pandemic, but they are doing exceptional work for the Oregon community while schools are in and out of session during the ongoing pandemic.
The Hunger-Free Schools team has been advocating at the state and federal levels to navigate through the usually cumbersome “red tape” so that community groups can easily supply children with food for the rest of the year. They’ve advocated for a new program - Pandemic EBT - to provide K-12 students and their respective families with debit cards that will cover grocery costs. This emergency grant funding is helping to ensure that no child goes hungry.
HFO is committed to supporting the community and making sure that the community’s needs stay front-and-center throughout the pandemic and the recovery that will follow. They are focused on ensuring that all Oregonians know how and where to access food for their children and themselves.
Being a company that is so rooted in our community, we take pride in lifting those who are doing groundbreaking work up. Last year as a company (with a ton of help from our awesome Portland community) we were able to donate $12,500 to HFO. This year, we’ve set the bar higher and have a goal to raise over $13,000 for the organization.
Every school district is getting creative to end childhood hunger, from school bus grocery deliveries to community food pantries, or even pitching a tent where students can stop by and get grab-and-go meals for the day. These are examples of the amazing extensions that Hunger-Free Schools supports every year for Oregon students and school districts.
Did someone say lunchtime? Hunger-Free Schools has been delivering lunches to kiddos this year via school bus.
Last month, we kicked off our biggest fundraiser of the year to benefit Hunger-Free Schools, a segment of HFO. Throughout the month of October, we donated $2 of any Portland Cider Co. 6-pack case sold. As an ongoing initiative, 10 percent of all sales from the PDX Community Cider will be donated to Hunger-Free Schools too until this cider is sold out. Each sale of PDX Community Cider moves us closer to our goal, so if you haven’t yet, pick up a Proper Pint or 6-pack today!
If you want to learn more about HFO’s initiatives, we’ve compiled a list of resources:
Find School Meals During the Pandemic
Portland Cider Company is committed to making the best cider in the Pacific Northwest - it’s in our roots! Portland Cider Co. was established in 2013 with the mission of bringing together cider rooted in English tradition with a little Portland personality and culture. Combine those things and you’ve got the Portland Cider Company.