Adrian Food Pantry
Covid-19 brings changes to Food Pantry Operations
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges and changes to the way the Food Pantry is operating. Instead of allowing patrons to come into the Pantry, we now ask everyone to remain in their cars, and food boxes will be brought to you. Because there is currently no effective way for the pantry volunteers to take customized orders, the boxes contain a pre-selected set of fresh, frozen and canned food goods, and there is no variation based on the family size.
Unsurprisingly, the sudden nature of the coronavirus outbreak has significantly impacted how the Oregon Food Bank, and the Adrian Food Pantry, have been able to get food. Locally, Adrian’s pantry gets weekly distributions of food collected by the Oregon Food Bank – Southeast Oregon Services location in Ontario through a program called Fresh Alliance; the program works with area grocery stores and other food producers to collect expiring produce, bread and frozen foods and distributes it to partner groups like the Adrian pantry. Recently, local stores have had much less excess product to donate to the Fresh Alliance, and as a result, patrons at the Adrian pantry have seen much less of these kinds of foods. Of course we hope this will change in the future, but at the moment, there’s little we can do to increase the availability of this sort of food.
If you are in need of food, but would rather not come to the food pantry to pick it up, please fill out the form below and we’ll arrange to deliver food to you!
Committed to fighting hunger in Adrian
The Adrian Food Pantry is a project of Adrian 2040, and is a partnership between the Adrian School District, Oregon Food Bank and Adrian 2040. The pantry is open to any family or individual living within the boundaries of the Adrian School District, though it is not limited to families with school-aged children. There are no income thresholds or other requirements to receive services from the pantry, and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and inclusive experience for all customers.
In our first year of operation (from January 2019 to February 2020), the pantry distributed roughly 90,000 pounds of food to 122 unique households comprising 527 individuals. During that time, the pantry received approximately 6,500 pounds of donated foods from local donors.
The pantry is located in the old school library, located right next to the school cafeteria. The pantry is open weekly on Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Hours are different during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday weeks)
While the pantry is primarily funded through a grant program from the Oregon Food Bank, we can accept donations of certain items:
- Fresh produce
- Canned, or other commercially prepared food that is sealed and unexpired.
- Toothpaste, soap and other toiletries.
- Toilet paper
- Diapers
- Gift cards to any local area grocery store – we use these cards to buy items which aren’t provided through the OFB allocations, such as canned corn, sugar, granola bars, and Thanksgiving ingredients. (Please note, we are required to send any cash or checks to the Oregon Food Bank, and while we love the OFB, those funds don’t directly return to Adrian patrons; this is why gift cards are a superior donation for the Pantry.)
The Pantry is completely staffed by community volunteers, and we welcome anyone interested in lending a hand; in addition to the weekly service on Thursdays, there are weekly tasks (usually on Wednesdays) which involve restocking shelves, cleaning and tidying up, and sorting produce to make sure any spoiled items are thrown out. If you’d like to donate an hour or two a week, please let us know and we’ll get you involved!
