Imagine experiencing a sudden job loss, divorce, a rise in the cost of rent, a health crisis or changes in the circumstances of life. If we haven’t been there, we certainly know someone who has. These situations can happen to anyone. For most of us we have a safety net; a family who we can reach out to or some other means of support. But in the case of our clients, that safety net does not exist. One Life food pantry becomes the safety net. We are there for the moms and dads who are ... Read More
Imagine experiencing a sudden job loss, divorce, a rise in the cost of rent, a health crisis or changes in the circumstances of life. If we haven’t been there, we certainly know someone who has. These situations can happen to anyone. For most of us we have a safety net; a family who we can reach out to or some other means of support. But in the case of our clients, that safety net does not exist. One Life food pantry becomes the safety net. We are there for the moms and dads who are worried that their family won’t have the food needed to make it through the week. We are there for the veterans, the seniors, the disabled, whose benefits don’t last till the end of the month. We are also there for their pets providing the food they need, so they can keep giving comfort and companionship. We are also a safety net to our clients that are living on the street. At One Life food pantry we believe everyone should have access to the basic life necessity of healthy food.
Our Programs:
Shopping Food Pantry.
Our food pantry was established in 1998 and has been serving clients in Clark County for over 19 years. We are members of the Clark County Food Bank, USDA as well as participants in the Washington Emergency Food Assistance Program. We offer a shopping style food pantry where clients get to choose their food. We provide a healthy well-balanced emergency food box to individuals and families who live in Clark County. Our boxes contain fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, bread and shelf stable items. Using the USDA My Plate guidelines for healthy eating, our volunteers help our clients choose items that are more nutritious.We serve on average 3100 households throughout Clark County per year. Each family receives more than 50 pounds of food.
Once a month, during our food distribution, we prepare a healthy recipe from the ingredients we have available in our emergency food pantry. This allows our clients to taste foods they may not have tried before. We have found that when they taste the recipe they will choose those ingredients when they shop. This helps us introduce healthy food options.
Nutrition Education.
One Life in partnership with the Clark County Food Bank Nutrition Education Program offers cooking classes that are designed to assist in maximizing food resources while focuses on healthy eating. Classes include hands-on cooking education, nutrition, menu planning, budgeting, kitchen safety and sanitation. Armed with these new skills, participants begin to unravel the patterns of food insecurity. This once per week, five week program is offered quarterly and is free to the community.
Giving Garden
The Giving Garden is a project that grows organic pesticide free fruits and vegetables for the One Life emergency food box pantry. Healthy fresh fruits and produce are a limited commodity in an emergency food box. Volunteers’ plant, weed, water and harvest the produce that is brought to the emergency food box pantry. One Life was awarded the "Excellence in Client Services award" from the Oregon Food Bank for our efforts.
Homeless Care
Our homeless care program helps those living on the street in Vancouver by providing resources such as food, toiletries, socks, hats, gloves, sleeping bags, backpacks, tents and blankets.
Thanksgiving Food Boxes
Each year we provide 150 to 200 fully stocked thanksgiving boxes to our clients. Each box contains a full turkey with all the trimmings.
All of our programs are provided free of charge and all are welcome.
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