For Sunshine Division: Kyle Camberg, Executive Director
Cell: 503.577.6852 or Email: kyle@sunshinedivision.org
Portland, Oregon, (May 27th, 2015 – 5:00pm to 7:00pm): Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division staff and 35 volunteers to pack 1,000 food boxes at their 687 N. Thompson Street warehouse as part of their summer food box program. In its third year, the summer food box program provides a week’s worth of child-friendly breakfast, lunch, and snack items to bridge the gap between summer meal programs and free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs provided during the school year.
This year, Sunshine Division “adopted” three schools by providing food box assistance. This is a one-time food box initiative and boxes will include information on how families can access ongoing food assistance through other Sunshine Division programs. The three schools selected (West Powellhurst Elementary and Ventura Park Elementary from David Douglas and Sitton Elementary from Portland Public School Districts) have 100% of their students on free and reduced breakfast/lunch programs.
Half of Oregon’s school-age children qualify for free & reduced priced meals. Sadly, the numbers are worse in East Portland where nearly 80% of children qualify. Each “adopted” school will receive the food boxes to distribute at year-end events with the help of Sunshine Division staff and volunteers and Portland Police Bureau School Resource Officers and student police cadets.
“We receive a lot of attention and support regarding hunger issues around the winter holidays” said Officer Phil Kent, Sunshine Division’s assigned police officer. “However, children suffer food insecurity issues much more during the summer months when federal and state funded programs are reduced or eliminated during the summer break. This is an opportunity for families to meet Sunshine Division for the first time as we help them through a rough few months. It’s also an opportunity for us to let supporters know that ‘Hunger Doesn’t Vacation’, families need food assistance year round.”
The program is partially funded through a grant awarded by OnPoint Community Credit Union and S.D. Deacon and milk vouchers have been generously provided by Sunshine Dairy. Food boxes include healthy foods that can be prepared by kids if parents are at work.
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About the Sunshine Division:
Since 1923, the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division has been providing emergency food and clothing relief to Portland families and individuals in need. Whether due to the loss of a job, domestic crime, illness, or victims of fire or disaster, the Sunshine Division has built a 91-year legacy of mobilizing quickly and efficiently to assist distressed Portlanders.
The Sunshine Division offers emergency food assistance six days a week at their warehouse as well as 24/7 through their partnership with the Portland Police Bureau who store food boxes at each police precinct that can be dispatched on demand. In addition to food relief they also offer new and gently- used clothing to those in need.
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PPB Operator: “Non-emergency. How can I help you?”
Caller: “Yes, can I get a food box?”
In 2014, the Portland Police Bureau answered hundreds of calls that started this way. What would you do if it was a Sunday 
night and you had no food to feed your family, transportation or money?
Sadly, thousands of Portlanders regularly face this reality.
But Portland is a unique place. We’re not just “weird” we’re resourceful. Where else in the country would a police officer respond to a call for food assistance by bringing a food box to your door? The answer: nowhere.
The Sunshine Division is more than a food bank or a food pantry with limited hours and one location. We provide emergency food boxes to all of the Portland police precincts, ready for officers responding to calls for help. These food boxes offer immediate food relief to families until they can access additional services and they also offer homebound seniors and disabled individuals with food assistance impossible for them to access on their own.
Sunshine Division’s unique partnership with first-responders allows us to feed those in crisis when other social service agencies are closed. Our partners at the Portland Police Bureau help us identify the need for urgent help, referring nearly 1,000 households to Sunshine Division’s doors for ongoing food and clothing assistance and home delivering over 26,000 pounds of food a year. Over 165,000 individuals were somehow helped through Sunshine Division’s diverse food and clothing programs last year. This year, through improved partnerships and programs, we expect those numbers to increase.
You don’t have to be a first responder to get involved. For more information, go to: http://www.sunshinedivision.org/donate/
ZUPAN’S MARKETS PROVIDES SOLE FUNDING FOR SUNSHINE DIVISION THANKSGIVING MEAL PROGRAM
MEDIA ALERT
Media Contact:
Katie Schoen, 503.546.7877, katie@lanepr.com
Kyle Camberg, 503.577.6852, kyle@sunshinedivision.org
ZUPAN’S MARKETS PROVIDES SOLE FUNDING FOR SUNSHINE DIVISION THANKSGIVING meal PROGRAM FOR FOURTH YEAR
Twenty employees and volunteers pack and distribute 320 holiday meal boxes to feed more than 2,500 Portlanders in need; donation funded through The Taste of Zupan’s ticket sales
WHO: Zupan’s Markets and Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division.
WHAT: Twenty Zupan’s employees and Sunshine Division volunteers and staff packing and distributing 320 Thanksgiving boxes for needy Portland families.
This donation was funded by ticket sales from the Taste of Zupan’s, which took place on Nov. 3. Held at the Heathman Hotel, the event showcased the best food and drink for the holiday season.
WHEN: Monday, Nov. 19 from 5:00 a.m. through 6:00 a.m.:Zupan’s employees and Sunshine Division volunteers packing 320 boxes that will feed more than 2,500 Portlanders.
Tuesday, Nov. 20 beginning at 9:30 a.m.: Zupan’s employees and Sunshine Division volunteers distributing boxes to families at the Sunshine Division Warehouse.
WHERE: Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division Warehouse, 687 N Thompson St., Portland, OR 97227
WHY: Nearly one in five Oregonians currently face hunger and are in need this holiday season. The Taste of Zupan’s event has funded the Thanksgiving food box program for four years. The Sunshine Division Thanksgiving program exists solely due to Zupan’s sponsorship.
About Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division
Since 1923, the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division has been providing emergency food and clothing relief to Portland families and individuals in need. Whether due to the loss of a job, domestic crime, illness, or victims of fire or disaster, the Sunshine Division has built an 89-year legacy of mobilizing quickly and efficiently to assist distressed Portlanders.
The Sunshine Division offers emergency food assistance six days a week at their warehouse as well as 24/7 through their partnership with the Portland Police Bureau who store food boxes at each police precinct that can be dispatched to those in need at any time. In addition to food relief they also offer new and gently used clothing to those in need.
About Zupan’s Markets
Founded by John Zupan in 1975, Zupan’s Markets is a local and family-owned market that serves Portland, Ore.’s food-loving community with four locations. Zupan’s Markets focuses on quality, selling everything from the best meats and wines to the freshest produce, baked goods, gourmet deli products, specialty foods, flowers and more, emphasizing locally sourced, artisan products when possible. For more information, visit www.zupans.com or stay in touch at www.facebook.com/ZupansMarketsPortland.
RISE & SHINE and Fight Hunger
It’s inconceivable to some that a small restaurant chain championing local ingredients, 40 local musicians, and a ‘little engine that could’ food relief organization would form such a unique partnership. However, it’s the Pacific Northwest, and anything is possible here.
When Burgerville Records approached the Sunshine Division to partner on a benefit CD featuring local artists and raising funds and awareness for hunger relief in Oregon/SW Washington, we were all ears. The partnership has flourished into a live concert series, multiple partnership and community nights, and a cereal drive in addition to the benefit CD sales proceeds.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of the CD, I encourage you to do so. For just $12, you will own a compilation CD of local artists rivaling no other collaboration to-date. Purely resting on its own musical merits, this CD is a must have.
The RISE & SHINE CD can be purchased at any of the 39 Burgerville locations and will be available for sale at select upcoming Sunshine Division events, such as the upcoming benefit concert, Sing To Feed, November 21st at the Aladdin Theater. Stay tuned for ticket information and details regarding Sing To Feed.
BedMart & Sunshine Division partner to tackle summertime hunger!
Thank you to BedMart for airing this wonderful PSA to raise awareness and funds for the Sunshine Division.
Hunger Doesn’t Vacation
The past year we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of families we are serving through our front door with emergency food and clothing. As the need has grown, I am happy to report we’ve also had the ability and willingness to grow our services. In a time when resources are ever shrinking I’m proud to say we’ve actually been able to expand our capacity and respond to the unprecedented need by now being open on Saturday’s. One day may not seem like much, but this extra day will allow us to reach families that are not able to make our standard Monday-Friday hours. This is particularly great for low income working families or single parents that can’t get away during the work week.
Awareness of the issue of hunger in our community and the services we offer at the Sunshine Division is also very important. We are so happy to partner with BedMart this summer for the “Hunger Doesn’t Vacation” awareness, food, and fundraising campaign. The goal of this campaign is to highlight the need that grows every summer for the thousands of local kids, who during the school year have free or reduced lunches at their schools but when summer hits are in dire need for food as two of their possible three meals a day are no longer available.
With the Hunger Doesn’t Vacation campaign BedMart and the Sunshine Division are working together to educate the community about some very sobering statistics. What we know is that two of the largest local school districts; Reynolds and David Douglas, both in Multnomah County posted the third- and fourth-highest poverty rates among large Oregon districts. In those two, nearly one in three children — or more than 7,800 5- to 17-year-olds — lived in poverty during 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2010 child poverty rates for Reynolds (32 percent) and David Douglas (31 percent) represented a sharp climb from 2009, when 5,500 children in those two districts, or about 27 percent, lived below the poverty line. Census experts put the child poverty rate in Oregon’s largest school district, Portland Public Schools, at 18 percent in 2010, much higher than the 2008 estimate of 14 percent.
That’s why we are working side by side with BedMart this summer. We are hoping to spread the word that hunger isn’t seasonal and doesn’t go away in the summer; in fact it worsens for many kids. We are working together to let the community know that Sunshine Division which is best known for our holiday food boxes is open year round and is not just a year-end concern or service. We are talking about the increased need many families and kids face during summer and we are asking the community to support our efforts so that we can deliver for the thousands of kids and families that are struggling while school is out. BedMart has generously stepped up on a number of fronts this summer! Here is how they are helping and how you can join them.
1. Raising food in all of their stores through Labor Day (click the link to find a local BedMart to drop off food in a Sunshine Division barrel: http://www.bedmartnw.com/locations )
2. Raising funds through an online fundraising tool, make a gift by clicking here:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Hunger-Doesnt-Vacation
3. Raising awareness through their local media partners and in stores. Have you seen Officer Kent on TV this summer, if so it was due to BedMart’s support!
Please join us this summer as we work together to help families and children that are in a time of crisis.
In a former client’s own words…
It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me: our staff has been so busy with an influx in clients served and new fundraising events and partnerships. In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing in more detail all of the exciting new activities that the Sunshine Division has cooking this summer. However, today I wanted to share with you a letter that I received a few days ago.
Sometimes we lose sight of the impact our efforts make on the lives of those that receive our food and clothing assistance. Therefore, we’re very fortunate when a client or former client shares their story with us.
I received this letter from the daughter of a donor who was letting me know that her mother had recently passed. I’ve omitted names for privacy sake, but I’m sharing the letter with our friends and staff so that we are reminded of the legacy of support the Sunshine Division has created in this community over many years. It never hurts to remind ourselves that we are part of something greater.
Here is the letter.
Dear Friends at the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division,
Many years ago, around 1962, when I was probably ten years of age, my father left my mother and she was alone with three little girls (of which I was the oldest). Mom had not been in the work force for many years as she had stayed at home to take care of us and the house, as was the norm in those days. When my dad left he took everything of value, even our car. From then until I was in high school, when we finally got a car, we walked most everywhere we went. Dad was supposed to pay child support, but he never did.
Mother went back to school at Portland State College, (as it was known then), in the evenings and then worked all night at a minimum wage job just to keep us afloat. She eventually went on to graduate from PSU and went to work for the City of Portland. Coincidentally, the first job she had with the City was in the Police Bureau as a report typist during the night. She worked for the City in many different bureaus until her retirement as the Administrative Assistant in the Bureau of Personnel Services.
The first Christmas we were alone was a hard one. We had little to eat and certainly no money for Christmas gifts. The day before Christmas the Sunshine Division showed up at our door with boxes of food and gifts. Mom was embarrassed, as she did not want others to know that we needed help but those men treated her as if she was doing them a favor by accepting the things they brought. It gave mom such encouragement and she never forgot that day.
Over the years as she had what she considered “extra money”, which wasn’t much, she would send money to you. I wanted to let you know that _________ left for heaven earlier this year. Money that was donated at her memorial service was divided between charities she supported over the years. Yours was one of the charities that she gave to. I am sending you that money now. I hope that you will be able to do for someone else what you did for mom those many years ago.
Thank you for the work that you do, please know that it does make a difference in lives.
In gratitude,
________
The Sunshine Division is looking for an intern who is a self-starter with strong writing and communication skills.
Do you have experience or want to gain experience coordinating volunteers and events? Are you reliable, personable and professional?
Do you want to work in the nonprofit field?
We’re looking for a college student to help us plan upcoming events and outreach, coordinate volunteers, help with social media, and manage general website updates (no html/coding knowledge required).
This is a great opportunity for someone looking to get into public relations, event planning, or development.
A minimum commitment of 10 hours per week is required with an increase of up to 25 hours a week during June and early July. The ability to work occasional nights and weekends is a must.
Please send us your resume with cover letter explaining why you would be a good fit and how your experience qualifies you for this internship.
This is an unpaid internship position for college credit. A letter of reference and solid work experience will be given to successful interns.
To apply, email Kristi@sunshinedivision.org .
Application process begins in March. Internship runs from mid-April through mid-July.
Applicants will be required to pass a criminal background test.
The Sunshine Division Welcomes Change with New Staff and Food Store Model
There are a lot of changes going around the Sunshine Division but one thing that hasn’t changed is our devotion to feeding and clothing Portlanders in need.
In the last two months, we’ve enlisted the expertise of our first-ever Executive Director, Kyle Camberg. Kyle is no stranger to the nonprofit world, working several years at Komen Race for the Cure as a Corporate Relations Manager and prior to that in development at the March of Dimes.
The Sunshine Division’s 88-year legacy is evolving and with this evolution the need for strong leadership is ever prevalent. Part of the Sunshine Division’s program evolution is the shift from our traditional food box model to a more dignified shopping experience for clients who visit our facility.
Clients who enter our doors are now given a shopping cart (rather than a box) and are able to ‘shop’ for their food in our warehouse store model. This allows clients to hand select the food items that best fit their needs, rather than pre-packed boxes which contain a variety of items which may or may not suit the diets of the clients.
Getting the word out about our expanded programs and current needs requires constant communication efforts. Therefore, we are happy to add to our staff our new Development and Communications Manager, Kristi South. Kristi comes from a varied background of journalism, fundraising event planning, and advertising. She has consulted for nonprofits for many years and now devotes her skills full-time to the Sunshine Division.
Please join us in welcoming Kyle and Kristi to the Sunshine Division team.
For more information about our new Food Store model, please visit our website at http://www.sunshinedivision.org/programs.php .
Summer 2010
Check out our most recent Annual Report
The City of Portland’s August Food Drive
The City of Portland’s August Food Drive Donation Sites
If you would like to host a barrel during our August food drive please call 503-823-2119.
200 Market Building 200 SW Market
224 Corporate Center 6400 SE Lake Road
9400 Place 9400 SW Beav-Hillsdale
American Bank Building 621 SW Morrison
Columbia Business Center 9900 SW Greenburg Road
Columbia Square 111 SW Columbia
Commonwealth Building 421 SW Sixth
Crown Plaza 1500 SW 1st Avenue
Dekum Building 519 SW 3rd Avenue
Fifth Avenue Building 1400 SW Fifth
First and Main*** First and Main
KOIN Center 222 SW Columbia
Lincoln Building 421 SW Oak
Lincoln Center* 10220 SW Greenburd Rd
Mohawk Building 708 SW 3rd
Montgomery Park** 121-139 NW 2nd Avenue
ODS Tower 601 SW Second
One Pacific Square 220 NW Second
OHSU Center H&H 3303 SW Bond
Pacific First Center 851 SW 6th
Pacwest Center 1211 SW Fifth Avenue
Portland Development Comm. 222 NW Fifth
Scholls Business Center 10240 SW Nimbus #L-3
Union Bank Tower 707 SW Washington
US Bancorp Tower 111 SW 5th
Water Tower 5331 SW Macadam
Woodlark Building 813 SW Alder
Yamhill Plaza 815 SW 2nd Avenue
City Hall: 1221 SW 4th Ave
1900 Building: 1900 SW 4th Ave
Portland Building: 1120 SW 5th Ave.
Central Precinct: 1111 SW 2nd Ave
North Precinct: 449 NE Emerson St.
East Precinct: 737 SE 106th Ave
Traffic Division: 4735 E Burnside
Property/Evidence Room: 2619 NW Industrial Way Ste. B-4
North Building (Training): 7214 N Philadelphia St.
Portland Beavers Make A Difference Monday
The Portland Beavers are proud to partner with the Portland Police Sunshine Division on Make a Difference Monday. Every Monday, with the exception of August 16, fans who bring canned food items to donate to the Sunshine Division at the barrels on 18th and 20th will receive a Buy One Get One Coupon for that Monday’s Games. Just look for the Sunshine Division volunteers at each Monday home game and help make a difference in our community.
Portland Police Sunshine Division 