There’s always an energy in the halls before a break. Students are excited to be free from the endless homework, studying and responsibility. You can finally spend two weeks in your pajamas, letting your whims be your plan for the day. Feel like watching an entire season of “Gilmore Girls?” That’s your prerogative.
But maybe it’s time for a change. Last year, 50 million people went hungry in the U.S. alone. That translates to nearly one out of every seven people. And this isn’t just a national problem–but a local one. One out of five Central Orgonians are labeled as “food insecure” which means that they either don’t have consistent access to food or enough to meet basic needs.
That’s why this holiday season, consider donating your time, your food or your money to those in need. Your efforts can go into changing the lives of people in our community and across the country, and make this holiday a spot of brightness during the dark winter.
Donating time: Family Kitchen
Nestled among classic Bend landmarks such as the Deschutes Public Library and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bend, Family Kitchen serves meals and provides a safe space for those who need it.
“Our mission is to serve nutritious meals to anyone in need in a safe and caring environment,” explained Family Kitchen Operations Manager, Tori Wild. She oversees the day-to-day systems across all three Central Oregon locations, organizing meals in the kitchen and for delivery. And it’s a fairly large-scale program, serving over 20,000 meals each month. The holidays are an especially important time of year, as they start to undertake bigger projects to keep up with the community needs. On Thanksgiving, they ended up serving around 600 meals made up of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and of course, pie.
“It’s really easy to get started for your first time, it’s a really popular time to volunteer around the holidays, even if you come in for a first-time experience,” said Torin. While there are many established volunteers, plenty of people come in with friends and family to just help out once or twice. Everything makes a difference.
Donating food: The Giving Plate
A local nonprofit organization, The Giving Plate, focuses on providing families with groceries. While they are closed for donations around Christmas (Dec. 24 through Dec. 28), there are still multiple ways you can help. There are a few items that are always important, like produce, eggs and dairy. But don’t let that limit you—anything helps. You can donate at their drop-off center at 1212 NE 1st Street and help put food on the plates of the almost 1,600 families they serve.
Every year, The Giving Plate hosts multiple annual benefits and fundraising events for children in need, on top of feeding our community. They host Jingle 2024, an event for children in need to get a festive dinner, interact with some of their favorite characters in costume and take home a holiday gift. This event runs throughout December up until Christmas, so if you’re willing to don a costume (or not!), visit the Giving Plate website to find out what roles are still available.
Donating money: Feeding America
Not everyone has spare time or food to donate. But that’s not the only way to make a difference. Feeding America is a national organization dedicated to providing meals for people across the country. And you don’t even need to donate a huge amount of money to see an impact.
The donation page proudly boasts, “Every dollar you give can provide at least 10 meals to families in need through the Feeding America network of food banks.” If, instead of going out to the movies with a friend, you donated that money, you could feed 500 people.
And if you want to go further than donating your pocket money, you could raise awareness of the non-profit and inspire others to donate as well. This could be done through social media or a simple email for the less digitally literate, such as grandparents. By inspiring others or donating yourself, you can make an impact–big or small.
“[Volunteering] gives you an opportunity to give back to the needier members of your society,” reflected Summit sophomore Harkin Baxter, a long-time volunteer at the High Desert Museum. Volunteering doesn’t have to just be something that you do for college applications, it could be something you do to just improve the world around you.
This break, consider squeezing in a two hour shift in between your Netflix binges. You can do it with friends, family or just by yourself. When you’re doing your grocery shopping this week, consider throwing in a couple extra cans or boxes of cereal in your cart to donate. And if those don’t seem like an option for you, it only takes a couple dollars to help fill stomachs through donations. Not only are you lifting up your community and bettering the lives of the less fortunate, but you are fighting for a better world.
