July 02, 2009
PGE customers asked to help Oregon Food Bank this summer
PGE customer donation drive will help hundreds of thousands of families
PORTLAND, Ore. — The need for emergency food does not drop during the summer months — especially as children go on summer vacation and face the prospect of three months without the support of school-provided breakfasts and lunches. Emergency food boxes from the Oregon Food Bank fill the gap.
In July, Portland General Electric is including OFB donation envelopes in customers’ electricity bills, with proceeds going directly to the OFB. A $10 donation enables OFB to collect and distribute enough food to fill an emergency food box — a three- to five-day supply of food for a family. Food and fund donations are critical this year as requests for emergency food climb to record levels throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.
“With the tough economy, more Oregonians are facing hunger,” said Karla Wenzel, a supervisor at PGE, and OFB board member. “Please join PGE in helping make a difference in the lives of so many families by supporting the Oregon Food Bank donation drive.”
On Saturday, Wenzel will present a check for $50,000 from the PGE Foundation to the Oregon Food Bank at PGE Park during the Fourth of July baseball game. This donation brings total contributions from PGE, PGE Foundation and PGE employees to more than $1 million since 2001. PGE employees have donated more than $360,000 and volunteered more than 3,500 hours to OFB between 2002 and May 2009.
To make a donation, PGE customers may use the OFB donation envelopes included in their July billing statements.
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About Portland General Electric: Portland General Electric, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 814,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. Visit our Web site at PortlandGeneral.com.
About Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of a statewide network of more than 915 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash. OFB recovers food from farms, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals and government sources. It then distributes that food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. Sixteen are independent charitable organizations. OFB directly operates the four regional food banks serving the Portland metropolitan area, southeast Oregon and Tillamook County. Those four centers distribute food weekly to
351 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs helping low-income individuals in Multnomah, Clackamas, Clark, Washington, Harney, Malheur and Tillamook counties. OFB also works to eliminate the root causes of hunger through advocacy and public education.
For more information, contact:
Elaina Medina, PGE,
503-464-8790