Community Feeding Community
Pride Northwest will be collecting non-perishable food items at the Portland Pride Waterfront Festival this year, for The People’s Pantry inside Q Center. The People’s Pantry is the only LGBTQIA2S+ run food pantry in Portland and caters primarily to the LGBTQIA2S+ and Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. We will have barrels available for donations at each of the main entrances to the festival. Together, we can make sure that our community is fed!
Their story, direct from The People’s Pantry:
Hand Up Project was established in 2016 as a 501-c3 public charity and the only LGBTQ2SIA+ lead food assistance program open to the public in Portland. Our mission is to empower the disenfranchised with the resources needed to improve their lives and a vision to create a welcoming and supportive environment that encourages and assists persons of all colors, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and beliefs to prosper and succeed by rebuilding their self-esteem, rejuvenating their motivation, and revitalizing their commitment towards a higher quality of living, thereby creating a better community, one family at a time.
Coming together over food has always been a natural way of building community. We find providing emergency food services allows us to form a bond that turns into friendship and trust, thus more productive interactions with participants.
Our program starts by addressing the most basic human need, food. We see food as medicine and good nutrition vital for both our mental and physical health. Food is one of the building blocks of life. You literally are what you eat. Without good materials to build a strong foundation, the stresses of our environment and poor or no food choices soon cause our body and mind to weaken leading to both mental and physical complications.
Hand Up Projects-The People’s Pantry Emergency Food Project offers a “shopping style” pantry, which preserves dignity by offering a choice of food staples. This model also caters to the individual’s personal and culturally specific dietary needs as donations allow; all while avoiding food waste from “cookie cutter” style food boxes.
We believe in “Being the change You want to see”, that's why The People's Pantry welcomes everyone; however, we cater to the BIPOC and LGBTQ2SIA+ community, experiencing higher rates of food insecurities. Traditionally most food programs are run by religious organizations. We all know the LGBTQ2SIA+ community have long been judged and ostracized for being their true selves. That’s why we see this work as vital to help bridge the gap in healthy food access. We pride ourselves in providing a safe, welcoming atmosphere making certain everyone is treated with respect and kindness.
Another thing that makes Hand Up Project unique is we carry this off with a “It takes a Village” type of attitude. We couldn't do it without the support of our volunteer staff, the community’s support and numerous companies and organizations “Giving Us a Hand”. Check out our “Give Us a Hand” page on our website at www.handupproject.org. There are lots of ways to help out. There is not much profit in giving away free food, so if you're able please consider becoming a sustaining member with regular donations. There's a lot of hidden expenses to sustaining an operation of this magnitude. In the past few months we have gone from giving away 5 tons to over 9 tons of food per month. There's a lot of people hurting out there.
The project comes together with the help of a diverse group of allies. Hand Up Project is a longtime partner agency with the Oregon Food Bank as well as a member of “Connect Oregon”, a coordinated care network of health and social service providers serving Oregon and SW Washington. Partners in the network are connected through "Unite Us" shared technology platform, which enables us to send and receive electronic referrals, address people’s social needs, and improve health across communities.
Hand Up Project is open on Mondays and Tuesdays 12 to 4pm and the 4th Saturday of the month 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Q Center located at 4115 N Mississippi Avenue Suite D, Portland OR 97217. Tri-Met #4, Stop 3967. There are no limitations to shopping at the pantry.
If you're hungry you are welcome at Hand Up Project.