Riposte Alimentaire
“Riposte Alimentaire” in French means “Food Response.” This past Sunday, January 28, protestors hurled soup at the “Mona Lisa” painting inside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Onlookers heard one of the protestors saying, “What is more important, art, or the right to a healthy and sustainable diet?” They were calling for an integration of food into the general social security system. The elderly are a segment of society that suffer the most from food insecurity.
In 2023, 45% of the 80,000 people served at our pantry were elderly. They came primarily from Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Maintaining optimum health is directly related to nutritious food intake, and that is one of the main reasons the elderly come.
Carol, an 86-year-old female whose husband died several years ago, comes to our pantry every week to get the nutrition rich food that is out of her price range at the grocery store. Our pantry helps keep her in good health and active as a result. The death of her husband has now not become a financial crisis for her like it has for so many individuals in our society.
Your financial contributions have provided for her and hundreds of other elderly individuals this community, allowing them to thrive.
We are eight days away from the 2024 “Share the Love Gala,” and this year we are excited about our online auction that opened yesterday, February 1.
We are going to ask you to partner with us in getting the word out to every single person you are in contact with! This online auction provides us the opportunity to connect with individuals in other regions outside of Portland metro area. By clicking the button below, you will find the online items. The bidding has already begun!
Gala Online Auction Bidding and Tickets
In addition, I would also like to personally invite you to our upcoming gala event. There are still tickets available, and we would like to sell out the evening. If you have not purchased your tickets yet, please go to the same website mentioned above and come celebrate with us. Our commitment to ensuring every family takes home nutritious food has cost us more these past 12 months than it has last three years combined. Food insecurity continues to be one of the greatest needs in our community, and we thank you for your continued faithful partnership.
Lastly, let me announce the start of our “The Community Table.”
We launched this program at the beginning of this year. As most of you know, the community that we serve is extremely ethnically diverse. We have engaged our community members, having many of them send in recipes from their country of origin, and due to a generous grant the pantry received from Trillium Community Health we are now holding cooking classes where we are learning to cook dishes that are chosen. It has been a fun filled time! We will be holding these classes throughout 2024; it is a way we can celebrate the diverse communities we are honored to serve.
I hope to see you on February 10th at our gala. If you are not able to come, please consider making a special donation.
Warmest regards,
Betty Brown
Executive Director
POBC Pantry
