Food Box & Emergency Services
Hundreds of families in our community have relied on our food box deliveries to help meet their most basic needs. This work has been both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring. We have met parents and children who had gone hungry for days, uncertain where their next meal would come from. Yet when a family opens the door to receive more than fifty pounds of fresh, nutritious food, you can see the relief, gratitude, and hope that community support provides.
Over a twelve-month period, we deliver nearly eighteen tons of food to local families in need. These deliveries are more than meals. They are reminders that someone cares.
Many of the families referred to us through our community partners are also facing emergency situations and urgent household needs. In addition to food, we often help provide cleaning supplies, sanitizing products, diapers, and wipes — essentials that cannot be purchased with food assistance benefits. As needs continue to grow, our programs continue to expand to meet them.
At the same time, the number of homeless youth and adults in our community remains staggering. Members of Southtowne Rotary Club proudly support organizations including St. Vincent de Paul Youth House, Hosea Youth Services, 15th Night, the 4J McKinney-Vento Program, ECCO High School, and additional partnerships with St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County.
Our volunteers give their time freely, but these programs still require vital financial support.
We are committed to stretching every dollar as far as possible, but we cannot do this alone. Please consider a one-time or monthly donation to help fund these essential programs and services.
Please consider making a donation today and helping us continue to serve our community with compassion, dignity, and hope.
Collecting Food Donations
FOOD for Lane County and the Eugene Mission regularly donate perishable and non-perishable items for these boxes. We are grateful that FOOD for Lane County chose us as a partner due to our long-term commitment to getting food to families in our community. Our relationships with these local organizations is what helps make this program so successful.
Our club needs to purchase additional items to complete breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, as well as all non-food items. We’ve found that when we ask our partners and families what foods they need, we can create food boxes that are more helpful to them.
We make some boxes specifically for hispanic populations that are underserved by other food abundance programs. These boxes will include ingredients like rice, pinto beans, and black beans, that they can make many meals out of rather than just one.
Southtowne Rotary is an equal opportunity provider. All referrals come from our partners at Bethel School District, Head Start, and Downtown Languages. Read more about our non-discrimination policy.
Distributing Food Boxes
For many years now, we have been using the Fairfield Elementary gym to make food boxes and hand them off to families. Camille Ronzio, a Southtowne Rotarian, has continued to organize this effort, through scheduling volunteer shifts and ensuring food boxes are ready to be delivered.
Over this time, hundreds of Rotarians and community volunteers have helped with this project and we are currently delivering around 100 food boxes to families each month. The feedback we have received from families receiving these boxes has been both inspiring and troublesome. We are continually learning how much food assistance like this is needed right now. In the current climate, we plan to continue distributing our food boxes and help as many families as we can.
Examples Of Families Served By Our Food Boxes Program
- Single-parent household with 3 kids, living in an apartment. The parent rides the bus for transportation, as vehicle costs are too high, and works from 6-6 to support the family. Approximately half of the wages go for daycare. A food box is a great relief for this family and helps them make ends meet.
- A dual parent household of 5 kids. One parent works, one parent stays home to cut the cost of daycare. Parents use public transportation or walk. A food box helps this family cut the cost of groceries.
- Single parent household of 3 kids in an apartment. Circumstances have forced this parent to recently relocate to this area and they do not know anyone here. Currently unemployed. When offered the food box, the parent was grateful as the house did not have many “staples” to start with.
- Single parent family currently unhoused with 2 kids. Parent works part-time. A food box is great for this family as the items are non-perishable and most do not require a stove/oven to prepare/serve.