Full bins of persimmons glisten like little pumpkins. Crisp green apples and oranges stand at the ready, while fresh limes, avocados, yams and acorn squash are sorted and sleeved into red produce bags with all the efficiency of an assembly line. As '90s music weaves through the air, colleagues chatter about work, life and their favorite ways to prepare persimmons (jam or sliced BLT-style, anyone?).

This group of Salem Health employees gathers at Salem's Marion Polk Food Share three times a month for two hours at a time to serve. For them, it's very simple — their community is hungry, and they can help. And, in the Salem Health way, they just do.

Many have experienced food insecurity themselves. Some work from home and need to get out of the house. Another is compelled by her faith. Others come straight from Salem Hospital’s campus, bringing a spouse and kids. Our health care heroes, who work so hard serving our patients during the day, breeze into another venue and just keep giving.

A shared purpose

“In my profession, I regularly see the impact that food insecurity can have on someone's health and well-being,” said Katie Dunn, RD, LD, clinical dietitian. “It's something that I have to consider when I'm providing education and making recommendations to patients. This is a way I feel I can give back and support a system that's helping to address this need in our community.”

Hanging with colleagues doesn’t hurt, either.

“I also enjoy meeting other volunteers from Salem Health whom I would not likely have met otherwise,” Dunn said.

Heather Haymowicz, genetic counselor, who attends with her husband, agrees.

“We started serving during the pandemic,” she said. “It just feels like one small thing we can do. Everybody’s struggling with food insecurity. It’s very encouraging to see all the food that gets donated, all from local farms or businesses. But things like that take a lot of effort to get sorted. It’s a big production going on behind the scenes that you don’t even realize.”

It comes as surprise to no one familiar with Salem Health’s work culture: the Food Share claims this group as one of its most productive volunteer teams.

“The feedback I get is that our team always works the fastest, the most efficient and gets the most work done,” said Melissa Meeks, Epic Patient Financial Services Analyst Senior. “So sometimes they’ll set aside special projects for us to do on our night because they know we’ll get it out quick. We won’t make a huge mess, and it just gets done.”

Meeks has volunteered for nearly nine years.

“I saw a post on the Daily Dose [Salem Health’s internal website] and, when I mentioned it to my son, he said we should go, and we did. We were hooked after the first evening, and when the previous coordinator moved on, I took over,” she said.  

Recognizing the need

Whether it’s sorting expired or damaged goods, the team hits the Salem Health switch and just goes, transforming huge pallets of foods into tidy, lovingly packed boxes ready for our community.

“We have so many regulars who come, you know, once or twice a month or more,” Meeks said. “I know what they’re great at doing, and I divide them up and have my own little crew chiefs within each group. We repackage food into family-sized portions, sort donated goods, create emergency boxes for law enforcement — whatever they need us to do, we do it.”

In the last few months, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, faced an uncertain future, the number of volunteers has skyrocketed.

“The last Daily Dose? I didn’t write it any differently than I did two years ago. This time? I had like 100 people email me back!” Meeks said.

According to Kim Hoover, Marion Polk Food Share volunteer manager, the need for food assistance at an all-time high.

“One in eight adults and one in six children in Oregon don't know where their next meal will come from. That's why the Food Share distributes roughly nine million pounds of nutritious food for families annually — that's more than six million meals per year!” Hoover said. “Community members like Salem Health employees bring Marion Polk Food Share's mission to life by volunteering their time in our warehouse repacking food for families across the Mid-Valley. Volunteers play a crucial role in our mission to end hunger and its root causes.”

Give to Marion Polk Food Share

According to Hoover, the need for food assistance is at an all-time high. She said there are four things you can do to support hungry members of our communities:

• Give funds. Your support helps meet the growing need. Donate here.
• Give food. Donate to the Food Share warehouse or your closest pantry. The top five most needed items year- round are shelf-stable dairy, oats or cereal, shelf-stable fruit and tuna, and peanut butter.
• Volunteer. You can make an immediate impact in the fight against hunger by volunteering, delivering food boxes or driving for Meals on Wheels.
• Advocate. Make your voice heard by letting your members of Congress know that food assistance matters to you.
  

Access resources from Marion Polk Food Share

Click here for an interactive map of food pantries, a list of contact info and a printable food assistance guide that's available in multiple languages.

Do you know someone who might be scared to access resources due to their citizenship or immigration status?

“We totally understand and empathize with that fear, but we want people to know that you do not have to provide ID, proof of income, proof of address or proof of citizenship to receive food,” Hoover said.

And for anyone who might not be able to make it to a food pantry, there’s another option.

“You can designate someone to pick up food on your behalf,” Hoover said. “Fill out an Authorized Representative Form (available in many languages on our website), give it to the person picking up food for you and have them bring it with them to the food pantry.”