We collect thousands of pounds of food every two months. Where does it go?

One question that kept surfacing as the Medford Food Project was being planned this year, was: “Where does the food go? Which food banks should get it?” In Ashland and Talent there are only one or two food banks, so it’s no problem. But in the Medford area, there are more than 20. How could the MFP decide which food banks should receive the food they collected?

Fortunately, the nutrition director of ACCESS, Philip Yates, was a charter member of the MFP. He came up with a creative solution: Divide the Medford Food Project into two groups — the food collectors and the food distributors. The food collectors would concentrate on organizing neighborhoods to pick up food, and the distributors — ie, the food pantries — would decide how to divide it up. Surprisingly, the food distributors had never collaborated on a project like this before.

We brought a group of local food pantries together, representing a variety of organizations in the area. Eventually they decided, in the spirit of true collaboration, that every pantry— regardless of its size — should get an equal share of the food.

Here are the 15 Medford food Pantries that currently receive food from the MFP:

• God’s Food Pantry
• The Medford Gospel Mission
• The Maslow Project
• The Northwest Seasonal Workers Assn.
• St Mark’s Episcopal Church pantry
• The First United Methodist Church food pantry
• The Lil Free Pantry
• The West Medford Food Pantry
• The Salvation Army
• The St. Vincent De Paul Society
• The Teresa McCormick Center food pantry
• The First Christian Church food pantry
• The Gleaners
• The Applegate food pantry

One question that kept surfacing as the Medford Food Project was being planned this year, was: “Where does the food go? Which food banks should get it?” In Ashland and Talent there are only one or two food banks, so it’s no problem. But in the Medford area, there are more than 20. How could the MFP decide which food banks should receive the food they collected?

Fortunately, the nutrition director of ACCESS, Philip Yates, was a charter member of the MFP. He came up with a creative solution: Divide the Medford Food Project into two groups — the food collectors and the food distributors. The food collectors would concentrate on organizing neighborhoods to pick up food, and the distributors — ie, the food pantries — would decide how to divide it up. Surprisingly, the food distributors had never collaborated on a project like this before.

We brought a group of local food pantries together, representing a variety of organizations in the area. Eventually they decided, in the spirit of true collaboration, that every pantry— regardless of its size — should get an equal share of the food. 

Here are the 15 Medford food Pantries that currently receive food from the MFP: 

• God’s Food Pantry
• The Medford Gospel Mission
• The Maslow Project
• The Northwest Seasonal Workers Assn.
• St Mark’s Episcopal Church pantry
• The First Methodist Church food pantry
• The First Presbyterian Church food pantry
• The Westminster Presbyterian Church food pantry
• The West Medford Food Pantry
• The Salvation Army
• The St. Vincent De Paul Society
• The Teresa McCormick Center food pantry
• The First Christian Church food pantry
• The Gleaners
• The Church of the Nazarene food pantry