Sunshine Division has extended hours of operation at its Southeast Stark Street food pantry and expanded two of its food assistance programs to help meet the growing demand for hunger relief in the Portland metro area.
The new hours for Sunshine Division’s food pantry, located at 12436 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97233, will be Tuesday-Friday, 9:00am-noon and 1:00pm-4:00pm. The pantry’s Saturday hours will remain unchanged: 9:00am-1:00pm.
This updated schedule will keep the food pantry open for an additional 1.5 hours per day, Tuesday through Friday, and allow Sunshine Division to serve approximately 3,000 more households per year.
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In 2020, Sunshine Division launched a weekly home-delivery program to bring free food boxes directly to households experiencing food insecurity. In May, Sunshine Division increased the capacity of this program from 350 to 450 food boxes per week. Each box contains 25-30 pounds of shelf-stable food.
In the first half of June, Sunshine Division distributed 2,000 food boxes to schools in high-need communities across the Portland metro area through its Summer Food Box Program. That’s twice as many compared to the same period last summer.
“The need for food assistance is at an all-time high, and the future of hunger relief programs nationwide has become increasingly uncertain,” said Sunshine Division Executive Director Kyle Camberg.
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Recent decisions at the federal level are making this work more urgent. Over $1 billion has been cut from the USDA’s food relief budget, and proposed legislation could drastically reduce SNAP benefit, putting food assistance for nearly 800,000 Oregonians at risk.
“Sunshine Division doesn’t rely on federal food assistance,” said Camberg. “Every meal we provide is thanks to donations from our community. That’s what makes this work possible.”
To keep up with growing demand, Sunshine Division partners with grocers and food brokers to purchase food in bulk and stretch every dollar.
To support Sunshine Division, you can make a donation online at sunshinedivision.org or mail a check to Sunshine Division at 687 N Thompson St, Portland, OR, 97227.