| 2008 Food Drive posts 10% increase over previous year! |
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| State employees raised 4.2 million pounds for the Governor's Food Drive |
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The Governor's State Employees Food Drive is the largest food and fund drive each year for the Oregon Food Bank Network. Last year, the state employees raised the record-breaking equivalent of 4.5-million pounds of food for the hungry of this state.
Just a few years ago, Oregon was rated the worst state in the nation for hunger. Governor Kulongoski walked the aisles of Fred Meyer trying to figure out a way to make his $21 food-stamp budget stretch an entire week. During Oregon Hunger Awareness Week, the governor challenged Oregonians to live for a week on this small amount of money. Many Oregonians still do not have enough at the end of the month to meet their family's basic needs. The need is great and food supplies are down.
This year during the month of February, employees from around the state raised another 4.2-million pounds for Oregon's food banks. Although the total pounds raised appeared to be less than the previous year, in was, in fact, an increase of 10 percent. After the 2007 Food Drive and prior to the beginning of the 2008 Food Drive, the formula for calculating dollars into pounds was changed from $1 equaling six pounds of food, to $1 equaling five pounds of food.
The theme for this year's food drive was “Take a bite out of hunger.” State employees create and fund many events to raise money for this important cause. There is no budget for this event.
The closing ceremony was held on April 10th at the Veteran's Auditorium with Governor Kulongoski awarding trophies to the agency, from each of the six teams, that had the highest percentage of food donated per employee. There were also awards for second and third place in this category, as well as an award for the agency from each team that had the highest increase in donations per employee.
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