Oregon Food Share seeks food donations
By Cynthia Whitfield
Of the Kmeruld
For most people. Thanksgiv
ing means turkey, stuffing,
cranberries and other delec
tables too numerous to mention.
But for many of Oregon’s peo
ple living below the poverty
line. Thanksgiving could mean
just another hungry day.
Oregon Food Share, a non
profit agency coordinating
statewide food relief, wants to
make sure this doesn’t happen.
Sponsored by Pacific Northwest
Bell, the agency will help coor
dinate the third annual “Super
market Saturday.”
Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m., every one of Oregon's 89
Safeway stores will collect food
and cash from community
members to be distributed to
emergency food shelters across
the state.
“We’re asking people to buy
a couple of extra items and
donate them at the store. Cash is
also welcome and will be used
to purchase additional food for
area food banks,” says Kathleen
Cornett, executive director of
Oregon Food Share.
Kvery week, 25,000 Orego
nians seek help from emergency
food relief centers. During the
last three years these centers
have been overwhelmed with
requests for food, says Corky
Stewart, PNB’s staff consultant
for community relations.
“We hear all kinds of things
about the recovery, but it hasn’t
filtered down here. In Oregon
we still have very high
unemployment.” she says.
The annual Supermarket
Saturday was inititiated by the
PNB community relations team
two years ago. Collections last
year yielded a total of more than
$53,000 in food and cash, up
from $50,000 in 1982. This year,
PNB volunteers have invited
other corporations to join the
drive to increase contributions
and awareness of hunger in
Oregon.
U.S. National Bank is a new
participator and is collecting
food items at most of its 185
branches through Friday. There
will also be a collection at the
IJniversity-Oregon State
University football game in Cor
vallis Saturday. High-protein
canned goods including meats
and fish are priority items, as
well as infant formula, baby
food, beans and rice. Basic
household necessities such as
toilet paper and soap are also
needed, Stewart says.
Group plans civil disobedience
By Paul Ertelt
• CM I hr Emerald
Increased tension in Central
America has sparked plans for
organized resistance, and a na
tionwide coalition of peace
groups is gathering pledges
from people willing to engage
in peaceful civil, disobedience.
Local efforts to gather
“pledges of resistance” in pro
les! of rising U.S. military in
volvement in the region were
announced at a press con
ference Monday at the Eugene
headquarters of Clergy and I.ai
ty Concerned.
Pledge signers are asked if
they would be willing to occupy
or blockade federal facilities in
either Lane County or in
Washington. D.C., in the event
of a U.S. or U.S.-sponsored in
vasion or bombing of either
Nicaragua or El Salvador.
Signers also have the option
of committing themselves to
peaceful vigils and demonstra
tions if they do not wish to
break the law.
The pledge drive is a preven
tive step, aimed at convincing
U.S. officials that escalation
would lead to widespread
resistance, said CALC member
Marion Malcolm.
“What we're doing is making
a statement that we believe the
situation Is very, very serious,
and we are willing to put
ourselves at risk to make that,
statement,” Malcolm said.
Although the announcement
came in the wake of increasing
tensions between the United
States and the Sandinista
government of ' Nicaragua,
Malcolm said the pledge plan
has been a year in the making.
Last week the. United States
accused the Sandinistas of im
porting Soviet MiG jets, but
U.S. . officials later admitted
they lacked any evidence of the
jets’ existence. Meanwhile, the
Nicaraguan armed forces have
been put on alert, and the San
dinistas have said they believe a
U.S. invasion is imminent.
Malcolm rejected the claim
that Nicaragua is a security
threat to the United States and
its allies, pointing to the pover
ty and weakness of Nicaragua.
“It is comical to think that
(Nicaragua) would ever be con
sidered to be an aggressor in a
war w'ith the United States,”
she said.
Malcolm accused the govern
ment of attempting to condition
the American public to the idea
of an invasion of Nicaragua.
She also said the United
States hopes to exploit the ten
sion to undermine the
Nicaraguan economy.
Nicaraguan coffee-pickers have
been taken out of the fields dur
ing the harvest in order to join
the country’s military forces.
Since coffee is a mainstay of the
Nicaraguan economy, disrup
tion of the harvest could have
catastrophic effects on the na
tion’s economy, she said.
Non-violence training ses
sions will be held to prepare
signers for civil disobediance,
Malcolm said.
Oxfam
Continued from Page 1A
isn’t like that. Oxfam doesn’t
show pictures of starving, dying
children. They show happy,
healthy people to show' the
possibility of what the people
can be.”
But solutions to world hunger
problems are blocked by
apathy, Bader says.
I cupic
have an influence, but they
do...every individual makes
the difference, and at every mo
ment we have an opportunity to
contribute to ending world
hunger/’
The break-fast meal, which
consists of vegetarian soup arid
UlUciU. Will UUSl UI1 a
sliding scalev
For more information contact
Becky Smith at 343-2824 or Jack
Kapuscinski at 484-5867. Infor
mation about Oxfam can be ob
tained by writing to Oxfam
America. 115 Broadway,
Boston. Mass., 02116.
Thanksgiving
Weekend
Call for
Special Rates
Please call
to confirm
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“Last year we gave $24,000 to
Oregon Food Share as a mat
ching gift to community con
tributions. This year we'll just
give $30,000 outright. We’ve
had tremendous response with
this project. I.ast year some peo
ple even sent checks in with
their phone bills," she said.
The program is particularly
important this year because
some emergency food centers
have been forced to turn away
hungry clients, or, more often,
give them less food than usual,
Cornett adds.
“We like to give people three
to five days of food until they
can receive some financial
assistance or food stamps. Dur
ing winter, food supplies are
low; the harvest is ever, the
economy is slower and people
need more calories in colder
weather," she says.
Oregon Food Share is an um
brella organization coor
dinating food distribution to the
477 independent agencies serv
ing the hungry. In Eugene,
FISH, The Salvation Army, St.
Vincent DePaul and other
organizations will receive the
collected food.
Some 2,000 volunteers are in
volved in the project, but more
are needed, Stewart says. Peo
ple interested in helping should
contact jackie Williams, Eugene
volunteer coordinator, at
484-8258.
“The fun thing about this is
how much is volunteered —
food, transportation money and
time. We’d like everybody to
participate,” Cornett says.
Oregon has the first statewide
emergency food-relief program
of its kind in the country. The
network received the 1983
Presidential Volunteer Action
Award.
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Or call 683-2373
for more
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