Farmers Ending Hunger Program Brings Onion Bounty to Oregon’s Hungry
Hermiston, September 4th, 2015. Farmers Ending Hunger Founder Fred Ziari & Executive Director John Burt took Portland’s First Lady, Nancy Hales, on a tour of River Point Farms in Hermiston so she could see first hand what farmers are doing across our state to help end hunger. The mission of Farmers Ending Hunger is to eliminate hunger in Oregon by increasing the amount of high quality food available to hungry local communities through a partnership of farmers, food processors, Oregon Food Bank and the public.
Craig Reeder & Sean Curren of River Point Farms led the tour of the farm and explain onion production.
In 2004, Farmers Ending Hunger founder Fred Ziari attended a meeting to address the state’s hunger problem. He was surprised to see Oregon listed as the hungriest state in America, with 25% of the population eating less than one meal a day.
First Lady of Portland Nancy Hales, FEH Exec. Dir. John Burt, Murmur Creative’s Mary Nichols and FEH Founder Fred Ziari.
After the meeting, Ziari discussed this problem with his colleagues and farmers in eastern Oregon. In the months that followed, he met with numerous farmers in the region–one of the most productive in the nation–to enlist their help in feeding the hungry. “No one had ever asked them, the farmers, to help solve hunger problems in the state. They said of course they would,” says Ziari.
Several years before, Jim Youde founded Extended Harvest, a non-profit organized around a similar concept for distributing food donations from the agricultural industry through food banks. Extended Harvest included an Adopt-an-Acre program. When Ziari and Youde compared notes and decided to combine efforts, they changed the name to Farmers Ending Hunger and kept the original Adopt-an-Acre program.
River Point Farms is not only America’s largest grower, packer, shipper & processor of onions, but also one of the top contributors to the nonprofit.
From Farmers Ending Hunger:
Our fight against hunger begins with the farmers and ranchers who donate a portion of their harvest. Services donated by food processors and cash donations from individuals round out the mission. The additional costs of product sorting, processing, packaging materials, storage and trucking to get that food to the hungry are covered by your donations.
Donations are tax deductible and turn the generous donations of farmers, ranchers, growers and other Farmers Ending Hunger partners into high-quality, ready-to use food products that will help reduce hunger in Oregon.
Adopt-an-Acre Levels of Contributions Include:
| Two Acres | $500 | Feeds 1000 families of four fresh vegetables for one day |
| One Acre | $250 | Feeds one serving of pancakes to 2,300 families of four |
| One-Half Acre | $100 | Feeds one family of four the daily recommended allowance of vegetables for 250 days |
| One-Quarter Acre | $50 | Feeds one serving of corn, peas or green beans to 625 families of four |
| One Row | $25 | Feeds 190 families of four whole grains for one day |
Farmers Ending Hunger is proud to partner with and support Oregon Food Bank. Our relationship with them allows us to extend our support to a larger network of hunger-relief agencies. The products distributed by Oregon Food Bank can be obtained at any food box pantry it supplies throughout the Oregon hunger-relief network. In 2011 Farmers Ending Hunger was among the top six food donors
Contact Us
John G. Burt, Executive Director: [email protected] 503.931.9232
Mailing address: Post Office Box 7361 Salem, Oregon 97303
