By Melissa Gardea | Community Philanthropy Developer- Grants
The Oregon Food Bank Network is a unique collaboration between 21 Regional Food Banks (RFBs) in Oregon and Clark County, WA and more than 1,400 food pantries, meal sites, free produce distributions and other supplemental programs, to weave a strong and diverse network of food assistance partners across Oregon and Southwest Washington. In addition to direct food distributions, we are implementing strategies to increase equitable access to food in local communities and address the root causes of hunger.
Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) Program incentives provide shoppers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) with a dollar to dollar match on the purchase of fruits and vegetables at participating grocery stores and farmers markets. For example, when a shopper spends $10 of SNAP dollars to purchase fruits and vegetables, they will earn an additional $10 in Double Up Food Bucks incentives to redeem on produce on their next visit. The result is a win on multiple fronts: families and low income Oregonians consume more healthy food, local farmers gain new customers and a financial boost, and DUFB helps promote and grow our local economies.
Since the grocery store retailer expansion began in 2019, DUFB has had over 98,500 transactions with over $293,000 worth of fruits and vegetables purchased at grocery store retail partners. Seeing the immense health and economic value of DUFB for our communities, OFB now plans to expand this program to additional 25 grocery stores statewide in the coming years. This will include the expansion of DUFB in rural areas and at culturally specific and BIPOC owned stores, implementation at key, high capacity grocery locations where many community members using SNAP already shop, and improving accessibility of DUFB by addressing transportation, language, and literacy barriers.
People are best positioned to choose healthy options when they are accessible, convenient, culturally resonant and obvious. A DUFB Grocery Shopper in Medford shared, “Due to your excellent program, I have purchased more high-quality organic produce than I normally would. The program brings the overall cost of food down to affordable levels. I love this! I also love anything that benefits our farmers, and helps preserve our critically valuable agricultural land! Thank you so much for DUFB. This is the type of program that restores faith in our governments.”
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By Melissa Gardea | Community Philanthropy Developer- Grants
By Melissa Gardea | Community Philanthropy Developer- Grants
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