NEWS
BY MORGAN THEOPHIL
VOLUNTEERS WITH
BURRITO BRIGADE
MAKE MEALS FOR
THOSE IN NEED
PHOTO: BURRITO BRIGADE
BURRITOS BEAT HUNGER
Burrito Brigade reaches a milestone serving the Eugene community
I
f you head down the back stairwell, continue into the
basement and wander through the underground halls
of First Christian Church on a late Sunday morn-
ing, you’ll hear sounds of food being chopped and
wrapped and realize you’ve come across the Burrito
Brigade, a group of volunteers making hundreds of bur-
ritos for the hungry.
With the mission to battle food insecurity in Eugene,
an average of 20 volunteers gather from 11 am to 3 pm in
the basement of First Christian Church on Sundays, and
from 9:30 am to 2 pm at Bethesda Lutheran Church on
Saturdays, to make burritos that are distributed via foot,
bike and car throughout the city.
Burrito Brigade volunteers drop off burritos to the
hungry at more than 14 locations including Conestoga
Safe Spots, Opportunity Village, St. Vincent de Paul Ser-
vice Station, First Place Family Center, White Bird Clin-
ic and Occupy Medical. Some burritos are given directly
to people out on the street.
As of Nov. 12, Burrito Brigade hit a major milestone,
serving their 100,000th burrito since the group’s hum-
ble beginning in March 2014. Jennifer Denson, a board
member and organizer, explains that back then, the group
served about 200 burritos per weekend, operating out of
a house in the Whiteaker.
“We did what we could, which was focus on the im-
portance of just getting any food out there,” Denson says.
“We didn’t have nearly the detail and care and support
we do now.”
Now, Burrito Brigade serves nearly 1,000 burritos per
weekend — about 325 sloppy-Joe-style burritos every
Saturday and 500 to 600 rice, bean and veggie burritos
every Sunday — and has been an official nonprofit since
late 2015.
The first few hours of each weekend prep-session
are for making burritos, and the process is as organized
and efficient as a well-oiled machine. Volunteers gather
around plastic tables, begin chopping, slicing and prepar-
ing vegetables and ingredients with an intense focus, and
also with joy.
“We have volunteers of all ages. Sometimes people
come in big groups, and sometimes whole families come
in together,” Denson says. “It’s 100 percent self-pro-
pelled and amazing to see.”
On this Sunday afternoon volunteers cut heaping
handfuls of fresh lettuce. They roast regular and sweet
potatoes, slice organic tomatoes and onions, make warm
rice in a 15-cup rice cooker and prepare individual pieces
of foil to wrap each burrito. Precision is evident as the
group makes its own spice mix to add for extra flavor and
doesn’t use anything processed.
All the vegetables are organic, when possible, and a
majority of ingredients are donated to the group through-
out the year. Much of the current produce was donated by
Eugene Foodies and The Corner Market.
“The community support is amazing, but we still
love getting new volunteers and more people involved,”
Denson says. “There is always a need for people to help
battle food insecurity.”
The group constantly looks for ways to reach more
of the community’s hungry. Burrito Brigade recently
partnered with the University of Oregon when student
government reached out about a need: The group now
provides around 100 burritos to the UO each weekend for
students who can’t afford food.
Within the past few weeks, the group has secured a
kitchen for the Burrito Brigade branch in Portland. “We
are slowly growing and expanding — we are always try-
ing to up our numbers wherever we can,” Denson says.
“It’s a full community effort.”
To find more information and learn how you can donate or volunteer, visit
Burrito-Brigade.org or find the group on Facebook.
• “Defend Equality to Defend Democracy” is a town
meeting 1:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Unitarian
Universalist Church in Eugene, 1685 W. 13th Avenue.
Organizers say, “Join with others to defend democracy by
working towards equality in our political and electoral
systems.” Presenters include national director of Move to
Amend,
Kaitlin
Sopoci
Belknap,
Wolf-PAC
(Oregon), Community Rights Lane County, NAACP
Eugene/Springfield President Eric Richardson, The Bus
Project Policy and Advocacy Director Gnora Gumanow,
National Popular Vote (Oregon) Co-Director Eileen Reavey,
The Equal Vote Coalition and Our Revolution Lane County.
After the presentations, Oregon Sen. James Manning will
facilitate a discussion among the panelists.
• Atlas Solutions is having a fundraiser at Thinking Tree
Distillery 7 to 11 pm Saturday, Dec. 9, at 88 Jackson
Street. The event is free and will have live funk music as
well as spoken word by Plaedo Wellman, who says it will be
a “good night of dancing, networking, mingling and
furthering the local food resiliency cause.” Nonprofit Atlas
Solutions uses GIS mapping technology and is developing
and implementing a program to coordinate emergency
food sites with grassroots gardeners who want to
participate in improving access to local food for at risk and
low income families. According to Wellman this program
is overseen by a volunteer task force using GIS to monitor
hunger and maintain a network of farms, gardens, food
pantries and food distribution sites. “Atlas Solutions’
gardening priorities include community food resiliency,
organic and local food production, soil health, biodiversity,
water and habitat conservation.”
• Join Our Children’s Trust in viewing a live stream of
oral arguments in OCT’s climate case at the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Dec. 11. At issue
is
whether the Trump Administration can
evade trial currently set for Feb. 5, 2018. The subject of
oral
arguments
will
be
the
Trump
administration’s extraordinary mandamus petition filed in
June, seeking the Ninth Circuit’s review of U.S. District Court
Judge Ann Aiken’s 2016 denial of motions to dismiss in
Juliana v. United States. The Trump administration claims
irreparable harm for having to participate in the ordinary
pre-trial discovery process and go to trial. The live stream
starts 9:45 am Monday, Dec. 11, in UO Straub Hall, Room
145.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Oregon
Water Resources Department are hosting an open house to
inform the public about potential water storage
reallocation in the Willamette Valley, 3 to 7 pm Monday,
Dec. 11, at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
office at 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive in Salem. The Army
Corps says they are “studying this issue because demands
on the valley’s water supplies have changed due to
increasing populations, development, irrigation and the
listing of threatened or endangered fish species. Because
of this, Portland District and OWRD are sponsoring a
feasibility study to determine if and how to best reallocate
reservoir space during the spring and summer months. To
review the draft assessment, visit nwp.usace.army.mil/
notice/article/1364275.
LANE COUNTY AREA
SPRAY INFORMATION
• Evans Timber, 541-998-9899, plans to spray Triclopyr
3A, Roundup Custom, Tordon RTU, 2,4-D Amine 4, Escort XP,
Forest Crop Oil and/or Plantskydd animal repellent on
644.3 acres in the Ferguson Creek area. See ODF notification
2017-781-13797, call stewardship forester Robin
Biesecker at 541-935-2283 with questions.
• Roseburg Resources, 541-679-3311, plans to spread
urea fertilizer on 3941.4 acres south of Walton. See ODF
notifications 2017-781-13702 and 2017-781-13707, call
Dan Menk at 541-935-2283 with questions.
• Oregon Department of Forestry, 541-935-2283, plans
to hire Nick’s Timber Services, 503-910-1120, to spray
imazapyr on 8.6 acres near Nelson Creek. See ODF
notification 2017-781-13700, call 541-935-2283 with
questions.
Compiled by Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers, forestlanddwellers.org
eugeneweekly.com • December 7, 2017
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