(Photo by Nathan Bang on Unsplash )
The Bend Food Project’s founders, Sue and Larry Marceaux, announced today that the Bend Food Project will donate $23,243.17 to The Giving Plate’s Kids Korner program. The money was raised at the October 2023 quilt sale organized by local quilters Sandra Henderson and Judy Johnson in collaboration with the Unitarian Universalist of Central Oregon’s Nourish Program. Local quilters donated over 200 quilts for the sale, with all proceeds raised intended to provide food for children in Central Oregon.
“The quilt sale will go a long way to ensure that our local children have enough to eat,” said Larry Marceaux. Over nine percent of children in Deschutes County were food insecure in 2021 according to a Feeding America report. If anything, those numbers have worsened in the last two years. “So we are immensely grateful for the generosity of the quilters who donated quilts as well as everyone who attended the quilt sale and purchased a quilt,” said Marceaux.
The Bend Food Project has been actively collecting food donations from the Central Oregon community since 2015, and their efforts have resulted in over one million pounds of food collected to aid individuals facing food insecurity in Deschutes County. This November, The Bend Food Project also donated $10,300 to The Giving Plate, which allowed them to purchase Thanksgiving meal vouchers. These donations are another step in the Bend Food Project’s ongoing commitment to supporting those in need within the community.