PUD Employees Raise $1,500 for Columbia Pacific Food Bank

February 21, 2014 – The employees of Columbia River People’s Utility District have donated $1,500 to the Columbia Pacific Food Bank.

The donations were collected during the PUD’s annual employee food drive. During the drive, each department competes as a group for the honor of being recognized among the top givers. This year’s honorees were:

Administration Department – Gold Medal

• Energy Efficiency & Communications Department – Silver Medal
• Information Technology Department – Bronze Medal
  Casey Wheeler, Executive Director of CPFB, thanked PUD employees for their generous donations. “This comes at a crucial time for us,” said Wheeler. “Donations decline dramatically after the holiday season and these gifts from PUD employees will enable us to make sure that we are able to provide nutritionally balanced food boxes to those in need.”

CPFB distributes thousands of pounds of food to emergency food pantries and local hunger-relief agencies throughout Columbia County. According to the hunger statistics posted on the CPFB website, the agency provided 12,422 emergency food boxes in 2013. CPFB also supports other local food relief efforts:

Two community meals programs in St. Helens and Clatskanie that served 12,092 meals in 2013.

On-site meals and meals on wheels programs at 5 area senior centers, which served a total of 71,379 meals in 2013.

A St. Helens Brown Bag program that served 756 households.

A Scappoose Four Square Church meals program that served 552 households.

Wheeler said that for every dollar donated, CPFB is able to distributed 5 pounds of food. CPFB often uses the cash donations they receive to fill in items that are missing from their shelves, enabling them to provide nutritionally complete food boxes to families in need.

To learn more about donating to CPFB, visit www.cpfoodbank.org.