About

Who we are

East Pendleton Food Pantry is a 501c3 Charitable Services organization (Tax ID #26053504001943) dedicated to feeding Hungry Pendletonians who are otherwise unserved.

Our history – we’re customer designed

Efforts toward establishing a pantry began in 2021 as a Pendleton Baha’i Community Social Action and Teaching project in response to an East Pendleton neighborhood poll citing food access as a major obstacle to better lives by working families. It has grown into a diverse team consistently delivering free food to an increasingly food-deprived Pendleton area population, advised by experienced, knowledgeable individuals from Agriculture, our Customer Base, City Government, Service Clubs, Church Leadership and Social Service Agencies, whose insurance coverage and much guidance is provided by the Pendleton Baha’i Community.

Our approach: Cooperation, Innovation, Focus on feeding the hungry

Our operational approach to addressing hunger, based on guidance from the Hungry to Volunteers produced an innovative, uniquely cooperative model requiring almost no budget, facilities and administration. We feed most of the hundreds of monthly customers via our volunteers using personal vehicles to deliver directly to hosted, central distribution points within customer neighborhoods enabling easy pick up, with additional teams delivering to shut-ins and vulnerable.  Our record of identifying our customer needs so clearly that we can effectively deliver food otherwise scheduled for destruction based on near term expiration further distinguishes what a team of 15 committed citizens can accomplish.

The East Pendleton Food Pantry organizational approach to feeding hungry Pendletonians is equally innovative and productive: We share our Human Resources with other food distribution organizations, addressing their staff shortages, expanding their programs and making salvage of undistributed food available to our customers.

Best next steps: Permanent Facility, Enhanced Food Supply to feed those we’ve missed

EPFP is pursuing an improved operation, to distribute food more frequently and provide a better selection to an increasingly hungry working population and their children with emphasis on working families whose economics and work hours make pickup of perishable foods a choice between earnings and adequate nutrition.  Our priorities include:

  • Acquisition of a permanent facility with refrigeration equipment, furnishings and good access on the East Side of Pendleton; this would allow us to 1) make food available during non-working hours and 2) provide food on an emergency basis when needed and 3) plan a program of enhanced weekend food packages for the local elementary school children.
  • More, safer and most nutritious food , including foods specific to culturally Spanish communities, acquired or purchased by grant monies based on our 4 years’ record of distributing 100% of all foods we’ve received:  We KNOW the hungry population is larger than our food supply, our capability to innovate accepts the challenge!
  • Add two more friends who enjoy feeding hungry people, like good coffee or tea (1x monthly meets features good eats!) and have access to an SUV, Truck or large capacity sedan to assist deliveries.