Who Are We…
And What Are We Doing?

It Starts with this Video

The Medford Food Project

Since 2011, our mission has been to provide food to local food banks so they can better serve our hungry neighbors. Our program is very simple: We sign up friends and neighbors to be regular Food Donors and give them a reusable green bag to use for food donations. Then, every two months—on the 2nd Saturday of every even month—each donor puts their bag of nonperishable food outside their front door and one of our volunteers picks it up, leaving a replacement bag for next time. Then we take the bags to a spot where representatives of local food pantries sort, box, and divide up the food.  We are now Jackson County’s largest volunteer organization, and have  delivered more than 1 million lbs. of food—over 800,000 meals—this way. You can learn more about this program at MedfordFoodProject.com.

The Student Hunger Strike Force (SHSF)

We’ve created “The Student Hunger Strike Force” to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities that fit easily into high school students’  lives and schedules. This year, students in four Medford high Schools—North, South, Cascade and St. Mary’s—will work with the Medford Food Project  to sign up 600 new Food Donors—eough to supply 25,000 more meals a year to hungry neighbors in the Medford area.

There are two opportunities to volunteer:

• Students who want hands-on experience with organizing and overseeing community service programs will have a chance to develop their leadership skills. They will be part of the “Leadership Team” that runs the organization at their school.
• Students who are simply looking for a way to donate a few hours of their time but want to feel their efforts are really making a difference will have 3 ways to do it: Door-to-Door Team Canvassing, Tabling, or our 60 Minutes Against Hunger event. They’re all easy and fun…and make a real difference for our community.

One hour of volunteering makes a big difference

• Going door-to-door for the MFP in teams of two, students average about 3 new Food Donors per hour…which is equal to about 130 more meals a year for hungry neighbors. That means on average, for every 30 seconds a student volunteers, they’re providing a meal to a hungry neighbor. The same thing is true for tabling.
• For each school, this goal is about 150 new Food Donors—equal to more than 6,000 more meals for hungry neighbors. And when student volunteers at each school reach their goal, a local foundation will donate $1,000 to the school’s “Sparrow.”
• It’s a win-win for everyone: It’s fun and fulfilling for students; it helps local food banks and the Medford Food Project; it makes a real difference for hungry neighbors; and it even helps each school’s “Sparrow.” It’s good for college resumes and for getting service hours, too. In fact, it’s probably the most productive volunteer hour (or two) that a Medford high school student can put in.