Everyone should be able to put food on the table

Sitting down to eat good food with people you love is a beautiful, basic human experience that everyone deserves. Around the table, we share more than food — we pass along stories, traditions and care.

“The best part of my day is dinner with my husband and the boys,” said Nicki Segura, Oregon Food Bank’s Language Accessibility Manager. “It’s important that our kiddos have nourishing meals, especially for two growing boys. A good meal … should be something everyone gets to share.”

But across Oregon, too many families are robbed of this simple ritual. Every day, parents are forced to make impossible choices: food or rent? Groceries or medicine?

Today, 1 in 8 people in Oregon experience hunger and 1 in 6 kids don’t have enough to eat. Last year (2024), Oregonians visited food assistance sites 2.5 million times — a 31% increase from the previous year. Hunger does not hit every community the same way. Due to a long history of systemic exclusions, we live in a world where Black, Indigenous and Communities of Color, immigrants and refugees, single moms and caregivers, and trans and gender expansive communities are two to three times more likely to face hunger and poverty.

“As an elementary educator, I experienced firsthand the importance of a nourishing meal and how it supports kids’ social and physical development,” Nicki said. “No one should have to choose between paying the bills and putting food on the table for their children.”

Yet Congress recently made the biggest cut to food assistance programs in history, making it even harder for our families to put food on the table.

That’s why we’re advocating for the Anti-Hunger Package, a bill that will:

• Make sure all kids in Oregon can eat breakfast and lunch at school, no matter where they live
• Protect SNAP and sustain our most effective anti-hunger program
• Provide relief for immigrants, refugees, asylees and humanitarian parolees who have lost SNAP
• Fund Oregon's food assistance network so they can keep food flowing to the growing number of Oregonians experiencing hunger

“I think about my own kids and the future I want for them. I want their home to be a state where hunger is not a reality for any child, no matter their background or immigration status. I want them to feel safe, welcomed and supported. That’s the Oregon I want for my family, for all of our families — a hunger-free Oregon for everyone.”
—Andrea Williams, President, Oregon Food Bank

Join us in supporting the Anti-Hunger Package, because everyone should have the security of knowing their family will have enough food on the table – no matter what.

Contact your lawmakers today and urge them to pass the Anti-Hunger Package.