PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — This is September 28, National Voter Registration Day. It comes at the end of Hunger Action Month — and registering to vote is one of the easiest way to help fight hunger.
You can also get involved in the advocacy work by the Oregon Food Bank.
Last year, the Oregon Food Bank provided meals for 1.7 million people. But their work goes much further than that.
“At Oregon Food Bank, our mission is to eliminate hunger and its root causes,” said CEO Susannah Morgan. “So it’s very important to understand that food solves hunger today, but that we all need to eat three times a day, so that you’re going to need food again tomorrow and the next day and the next day.”
The Oregon Food Bank works with legislators to eliminate lack of access to affordable health care, housing, education and more to solve the root causes of hunger.
“Last year during the voting session, we worked on 7 different ballot initiatives that were passed,” Morgan said. “They included, like, preschool for all at the Metro level and at the statewide level, the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs so that we can treat that medically instead of through the criminal justice system.”
Adding your voice can help advance these causes. You can get involved by signing up for action alerts.
ACTION ALERTS
REGISTER TO VOTE
CHECK YOUR ADDRESS
MAKE A DONATION
VOLUNTEER
FOOD FINDER
“When senators and representatives get a couple dozen messages from folks, they start to say, ‘Oh, this is important to my constituents,'” she said. “So it can feel like our voices don’t matter. But the fact is the more we engage, the more we influence what policies actually happen and make it across the finish line.”
Most importantly, register to vote.
“We especially need people with lived and living experience of hunger to be voting because you know what it’s like to live through hunger,” Morgan said. “You are the experts. You will help us make the change.”