FoodMatters & Gladstone Food Pantry

Addressing Food Insecurity in Our Community

About FoodMatters

The FoodMatters Program is a community partnership between NWFS, Oregon Food Bank, Gladstone School District, and Hillside Fellowship. Our goal is to address emergency, temporary, or ongoing food insecurity experienced by the most vulnerable in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Marion, and Polk Counties.

As a contracted Oregon Food Bank partner, NWFS provides nutritious, culturally preferred, and diet-specific foods to those populations who experience emergency, temporary, and ongoing food scarcity issues. Our program is designed to help those who may be disproportionately impacted by current and historical socio-economic inequities, often exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

NWFS operates two different kinds of Oregon Food Bank Food (OFB) Distributions Programs:

The Gladstone School Food Pantry primarily serves students and their families, plus all residents of Jennings Lodge, Oak Grove, and the City of Gladstone; the Gladstone Senior Center; and the Tukwila Springs Housing Complex.
The NWFS FoodMatters Supplemental Food Program provides food to NWFS clients and is distributed by staff from our main office at 6200 SE King Rd.

In 2020 - 2022, despite COVID-related challenges and food supply interruptions, NWFS provided 20-40 lbs. of food staples and fresh produce to 1,056 households multiple times for a duplicated count of 6,226 children, adults, and senior encounters. Our program also provided support to COVID-quarantined households served by NWFS Contact Tracers, who distributed as many as 200 grocery bags per week at the peak of the COVID pandemic. Grocery bags contain food purchased by NWFS plus donated food from Oregon Food Bank, Dave’s Killer Bread, Bob’s Red Mill, Imperfect Produce, Grocery Outlet, and others. These food bags also contained health and safety handouts, and information on NWFS and other local resources, written in both English and Spanish.