The Portland-Based Nonprofit Continues to Adapt to Ensure Children and Families Are Fed, and Wholesome Food Doesn’t Go To Waste
OCTOBER 12, 2021 [Portland, Ore.] – Non-profit Urban Gleaners celebrates a milestone 15 years of reducing food insecurity and food waste in Multnomah and Washington Counties. Urban Gleaners collects over a million pounds of fresh food each year from local businesses before it can go to waste, and then repackages and delivers it to people who need it – free of charge, no questions asked.
Over the past 15 years, Urban Gleaners has:
Recovered more than 8,000,000 pounds of wholesome food; the environmental benefit of this food rescue is equivalent to saving more than 425,000 gallons of gas from being used.
Shared food with an estimated 65,000 people
Shared more than $21 Million in free food to people who need it
Prevented thousands of gallons of food waste methane from being released into the atmosphere
“People, especially children, should not be going hungry,” says Tracy Oseran, Founder & Executive Director of Urban Gleaners. “What I’ve learned over the past 15 years is that there is more than enough food for everyone, we just need to get it to those who need it. Our model could not be more simple and effective.”
Urban Gleaners was founded in 2006 by Oseran and her two children who collected and redistributed food from the back of their family car. Urban Gleaners now has 11 employees and more than 150 volunteers who use 4 vans to collect food from more than 100 business partners, then sort and redistribute it to 25+ distribution sites each week.
Oseran also founded Tracy’s Small Batch Granola in 2006, which donates 100% of profits to Urban Gleaners and is now Urban Gleaners’ largest corporate donor.
In 2020, the global pandemic resulted in an enormous decrease in both food donations and distribution site access, and a sharp increase in food insecurity in the community. Yet Urban Gleaners continues to adapt to these challenges to ensure children and families are fed — at least half of those served by Urban Gleaners are under 14 years old.
Anyone interested in supporting Urban Gleaners’ efforts can do so by making food donations (donations from food-related businesses and individuals are welcome), making monetary donations, and volunteering. http://urbangleaners.org/give-
Those facing hunger can find Urban Gleaners’ food pick-up locations and other resources at: http://urbangleaners.org/need-
ABOUT URBAN GLEANERS
Urban Gleaners collects delicious, fresh food before it can go to waste and gets it to those living with food insecurity in Multnomah and Washington Counties. Urban Gleaners picks up over a million pounds of fresh food each year from a growing roster of donors including: restaurants, grocery stores, corporate campuses, event sites, colleges and universities, farms, and food wholesalers. They repackage and distribute the food to over 60 sites in the Portland Metro area, at schools, volunteer-run Mobile Markets, parks and apartment complexes, and through a variety of community service organizations. Urban Gleaners provides access to healthy food, free of charge and no questions asked, to more than 2,500 people each week, focusing efforts on children and their families. For more information, please visit: http://urbangleaners.org/