Pilot food donation project seeks coordinators

A new effort to address hunger and nutrition in Yamhill County is seeking volunteer coordinators to oversee donation groups.

Coordinators work with groups of neighbors, friends or co-workers to collect food every other month. The donors fill bags with non-perishable food; the coordinators collect the bags and deliver them to a central site, and the food is redirected to the Yamhill Community Action Program for distribution across the county.

The “Yamhill Food Project” is an effort of the Oregon State University Extension Service working with YCAP and other organizations in Yamhill County, such as Yamhill County Public Health, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, Physicians Medical Center and others.

Carly Kristofik of the OSU Extension Service said the goal of the program is to provide a steady, year-round supply of healthy food to local food banks, which in turn will help alleviate food insecurity amongst Yamhill County residents.

“Food banks do great work; they’re so important,” Kristofik said. “The people who run them do amazing work; they have such passion for the community.”

The Yamhill Food Project is the first of its kind in the area, a pilot for OSU Extension. There are Neighborhood Food Projects throughout the country; the first was in Ashland, and now about 60 places have similar donation efforts.

Recruiting coordinators is the first step. Kristofik said these volunteers, in turn, will create groups of donors and remind them when collection days near. This year, the days will be the first Saturday of each even-numbered month, starting April 4 and continuing the first Saturday of June, August, October and December.

The coordinators will collect bags filled with canned or boxed foods such as tuna, peanut butter, beans, shelf-stable milk, soups and other products. They will deliver them to the Dayton Food Pantry building, where they will later be collected by YCAP and distributed to food banks in McMinnville, Dayton, Carlton, Amity, the West Valley and other parts of the county.

Kristofik said Yamhill Food Project organizers suggest coordinators also recruit partners who can help with the delivery and fill in if they can’t make it one day. In addition, she said, having a co-coordinator is more fun.

“This is about building community, as well as about making donations easy,” she said.

To volunteer as a coordinator, or to find out about becoming a food donor, send email to the yamhillfoodproject@gmail.com.