PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Sunshine Division volunteers home-delivered nearly 3,000 Thanksgiving food boxes and turkey meal kits to families facing food insecurity across Portland on Saturday.
More than 500 volunteer drivers gathered at Portland International Raceway - bright and early - to pick up food boxes full of pantry staples and produce items, along with reusable grocery bags that each contained a frozen turkey and sides.
The volunteers then received a list of addresses for local families and individuals who are seeking food assistance.
The volunteers delivered the meals directly to recipients' doorsteps.
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This year, the Sunshine Division delivered 2,750 Thanksgiving food boxes. That's over 700 more boxes than were delivered in 2024.
This is amid growing uncertainty surrounding SNAP benefits.
Sunshine Division's executive director Kyle Camberg talked with FOX 12 about the importance of the work they are doing for the local community.
"This is a community effort," Camberg said. "We're a small, local nonprofit completely reliant upon our volunteers and, you know, local food drives and local donors and so, you know, this isn't a government effort. This is local people stepping up to help Sunshine Division facilitate this for thousands of people. And unfortunately, it's never been more needed. We saw our front door nearly quadruple at the start of the month with the SNAP cuts. We're all aware of, you know, the last few years with inflation. Of course, we had pandemics and wildfires and ice storms and, you know, there's just been so many obstacles the past five years and so, it's awesome that we've been able to kind of dig in and do more."
In addition to the home deliveries, Sunshine Division distributed 1,900 turkey meal kits to 35 partner social service agencies in the Portland metro area.