Project Summary:

OFB is expanding our cooler capacity and size to improve our ability to receive and distribute fresh food. As many of you know, nutritious, fresh, locally grown food is abundant in the Pacific Northwest - yet many of our aging facilities were designed to support the storage and distribution of shelf-stable goods. Oregon Food Bank has embarked upon a ten year vision, called the Rooted and Rising Campaign (see attached document).  The Cooler Expansion project is part of a series of infrastructure projects in the Rooted and Rising campaign designed to improve our ability to accept, store, and distribute donations of fresh and perishable products (page 10). We are very excited to begin this important step in positioning our network to provide fresh nutritious food into the future.  

What Partner Agencies can expect: 

Availability of Frozen and Cooler products

During the construction phase the flow of cooler products (produce, dairy, etc.) will not be affected. Only the flow/distribution of frozen food will be impacted with a planned decrease. We have been gradually decreasing the amount of frozen items offered during March and this will continue into the first half of April. During the construction phase (April 22nd-May 31st) the only frozen product that will be received at the NE Portland Warehouse will be USDA meat, and only 2 items/Truckloads per month.

• Metro Agencies (Clackamas and Multnomah counties) will be the most impacted sites.  The only frozen product that will be available is a small amount of Frozen meat for USDA-TEFAP sites.  This product may not be available every week.  Non-USDA Metro Agencies will not have frozen product available for their orders.
• Washington County Agencies and Agencies served by OFB-Tillamook County Services, Southeast Oregon Services and the Columbia Gorge Food Bank will be moderately impacted.  Each of these warehouses will stock-up on frozen items before the project begins. However their inventory will not be replenished by the NE Portland Warehouse until the project is finished.  Agencies served by these warehouses will see lower volumes of frozen product available, decreased variety and reduced amount of USDA-TEFAP frozen product.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Can Agencies that are not currently USDA-TEFAP agencies be temporarily approved for USDA-TEFAP status?  
  • No;  Unfortunately, there are a number of rules and eligibility requirements that pertain to USDA-TEFAP agencies that do not make it possible for us to give this status on a temporary basis.
• Can Metro Agencies be serviced out of the Washington County warehouse?  
  •  No; Our Washington County warehouse capacity and our transportation capacity are both limited. It is not possible for us to serve Metro Agencies out of the Washington County warehouse.
• When will frozen inventory be available again in regular volumes?
  • After the construction phase, which is scheduled to end on May 31st, we will begin bringing frozen product back into the NE Portland Warehouse.  Frozen product will be immediately available for distribution, but it will take a few weeks to months to bring the amount and variety back up to regular levels.
• Can my agency stock up on frozen food in the next couple of weeks to make up for the planned absence of frozen food?
  • Yes, Agencies are encouraged to accept and order as much frozen items as possible to stock up on frozen food. Agencies may be contacted by the OFB Ordering team in the next few weeks to strategize moving frozen product to the Agency. However, there will be dwindling variety and availability as the inventory levels at the NE Portland Warehouse dwindle so Agencies should not necessarily experience and increase in access to frozen items, especially meat.