May East County Issue Forum

Food Access Updates and Information

May 7th, 3:00-4:30 pm

Zoom Meeting Recording

Thank you to our presenters for taking time to share with us the work they are doing during this unprecedented pandemic. We also want to thank those who were able to join our call. If you were unable to participate, you can view a recording of the zoom meeting online here.

Below is the agenda for the meeting with links to questions asked during the 4/2/20 COVID-19 East County Issue Forum.  Full agenda is below, not every presenter had additional questions asked of them.

Agenda

County Update:

Multnomah County Department of County Human Services

Presenters: 

  • Lee Girard, Director, Multnomah County Aging, Disability and Veterans Services Division 

  • Peggy Samolinski, Director, Youth and Family Services Division, 

  • Frances Hall, Program Specialist Senior, SUN Service System

Food Bank Partners:

Courtney Wright, Regional Network Developer

  • Oregon Food Bank

Kirsten Wageman, Executive Director

  • Snow Cap

School District Partners 

Justin Birmingham,Grants and Partner Services Administrator

  • Reynolds SD

Jordan Ely, Chief Financial Officer

  • Gresham/Barlow SD

Jurisdiction Partners

Joe Walsh, Senior Manager of Neighborhood Prosperity & Youth Engagement

  • City of Gresham

Below are questions that were asked of our Multnomah County Department of County Human Services:

What food support exists for older adults residing East of the Sandy River?

  • Multnomah County and partners are delivering meals throughout the county, including the rural areas. We recommend calling the Aging and Disability Resource Connection of Oregon (ARDC) as a way to access services. Their website is https://www.adrcoforegon.org/consite/index.php and their phone number is 1-855-ORE-ARDC (673-2732). Community members can also call Meals on Wheels directly at 503-736-6325.

Are adults able to receive grab n’ go meals at school sites?

  • The funding that school districts receive from the USDA for meals are only for youth ages 1-18, so only students are eligible. If adults are in need of sack meals, Zarephath Kitchen and Pantries have some available, http://www.feedeastcounty.org/.

For community members who are on SNAP, will the additional pandemic funding be automatically added to an individual’s SNAP Card?

  • Eligible SNAP households will have their March-May benefits automatically deposited to their existing accounts in late May.

Will the SNAP benefit also support children in private schools?

  • If students at a private school receive SNAP they will receive this additional benefit.  

  • For other situations, the non-public school must participate in the National School Lunch Program to provide free or reduced lunch and the family qualifies for that program.

If families are in need of Essential household items, what are some options that may exist for them?

  • If the families have students at a Sun school, there may be options. Please visit /sun for more information about local Sun programs throughout Multnomah County.

Census Update:

Recently the US Census Bureau announced that the census reporting deadline has been extended to October 31st, giving us a little over 5 months left to fill out our census. If you haven’t had the chance to fill out your census yet, I encourage you to do it this weekend.

While you’re completing the census, if you have a pet, please submit a photo of them helping you complete the form for our Census Pet Photo Challenge! We have gift cards available from local restaurants that will be awarded to the winners of this contest! We’ve had dogs, cats, chickens and goats featured filling out the census, and we would love to see some more feathered, furry, or even scaled animal friends helping to fill it out! 

You can submit them to multnomah.census@multco.us or tag us on:

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Twitter: @LoriStegmann