Sunshine Division’s new Northwest Portland food pantry and warehouse opens June 9
Nearly half an acre under one roof
It took years for the Sunshine Division to find a place to serve folks closer to downtown Portland. They finally have. The building at 2121 NW Front Ave. covers about 20,000 square feet — almost half an acre under one roof — and officially opens on Tuesday, June 9, at 9 a.m.
It will be open 5 days a week. Visit the Sunshine Division’s website for hours.
The Sunshine Division serves families, seniors, students, those on the Oregon Health Plan, the homeless and anyone in the Portland metropolitan area who can’t afford to buy enough food for themselves or their families.
The new building combines Sunshine Division’s former North Thompson Street pantry with a warehouse in Wilsonville. Currently, the Sunshine Division is helping roughly 85,000 households. Executive Director Kyle Camberg expects that number to reach 100,000 in the next year. Rising gas and grocery prices, and the high cost of health care and housing are eating away at people’s wages. Some clients have also lost some of their SNAP benefits.
Camberg says the new pantry “was designed with the clients in mind.”
It is right by TriMet’s number 16 bus line. And there is parking and a loading dock and other must-have amenities that the Sunshine Division never had at its North Portland location.
That disjointed structure, nearly 100 years old, was originally built as a machine shop. The Sunshine Division took the place over in the 1970s. Through some unconventional makeshift efforts and workarounds over the years, the social service agency ably turned the building into a food pantry for shopping and food boxes.
The North Thompson building, however, never really fit the bill. Staff and volunteers had to jerry-rig doors to make the place work for clients in need.
However, about two years ago, the Sunshine Division closed the North Thompson pantry because of safety concerns for staff and volunteers. One time, a man broke through a glass door, threatening staff. (Disclosure: I volunteered there for several years before it closed down.)
Even before those incidents, the staff had been looking for a new building. It is not easy to locate a social service agency that needs a massive amount of storage space, with loading docks for quick deliveries, racking for food storage and floor-to-ceiling cold storage.
Also essential: the new Northwest pantry needed to be on a bus line and offer parking for clients with cars. The new location on Northwest Front Avenue checked all the boxes.
The shopping should be quick and easy. Most clients will be in and out in 15-20 minutes, meaning people will be able to go about their day without creating a traffic bottleneck in the neighborhood.
Staff and volunteers should also find their jobs more efficient. There is space for client check-in, and it will be easy for staff and volunteers to serve clients, whether quickly restocking shelves or helping with recipes and meal plans.
Sunshine Division Development Director Dana Kinney told the NW Examiner that she surveyed clients to find out what they wanted and needed in the new pantry. There will now also be more cultural and religious food options when possible.
The Northwest pantry is opening just in time for summer. Camberg says food pantries see a spike in need during the summer months when school is out. Free meals for students end when school is out.
The new warehouse and pantry is entirely funded by private donations and receives no federal or state money. Camberg says the building cost $11.75 million to purchase, and although they reached 83% of their fundraising goal, they are still looking for contributions to cover their remaining costs.
The Sunshine Division says it needs more food for its new pantry and is asking the public to hold food drives or to make cash donations. They could also use more volunteers for the new facility. For information, visit the Sunshine Division online.
Those needing help feeding themselves or their families will also find information on that website. Pantry hours and a sign-up system to reserve shopping time are also on the site. The Sunshine Division also delivers food boxes to those who can’t get to the pantries. That information is also on the website.
The Eastside Sunshine Division pantry at 12436 SE Stark St. remains open.