Sunshine Division Needs your Help!

As you all know already, Sunshine Division is near and dear to our hearts here at Red Door.  We volunteer, donate profits, and Jennye actively sits on the board for Sunshine dedicated to helping to feed more people in the metro area.  For those of you that don’t know, Sunshine Division provides free accessible food to struggling local families and individuals all over the metro area.  Offering food assistance 5-6 days a week at N Thompson and SE Stark in Portland, as well as 24/7 through our partnership with the Portland Police Bureau which stores food boxes at each police precinct that can be dispatched to people in need at any time. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sunshine finds itself serving 8x the number of people across 4 counties working with local agencies to ensure demands are met at all hours to those in need of food assistance.  With the demand going up, they need your help more than ever.

Sunshine operates very differently than most community food charities. They specialize in providing a nourishing box of food which can be done 24 hours a day with their partnership with the Portland Police Bureau, as well as through the food pantries, and they also deliver a complete holiday meal including fresh produce and turkeys to 4,000 families' doorstep in December.

As an active board member, Jennye gathers the Red Door community to volunteer to fill food boxes, deliver food boxes, hold fundraising events, and hold a food drive at every client event.  Over the years many of Red Door’s clients have helped grow Sunshine and have become regular volunteers and made such a huge impact.  We are so grateful for the Red Door community and just want to remind all of you that Sunshine needs our continued support.

Ways to Get Involved!

Financial Donations – Sunshine is 5-Star rated on Charity Navigator, and is a top-rated organization where you can be assured that 93 cents of every dollar go back out the door to serve our community.  Did you know that through their food partnerships, Sunshine ensures that your donation helps purchase food at discounted rates?  Look at how far your donation goes!

$50 gift = 68 meals

$100 = 100 lbs of food

$250 = 338 meals

Volunteer – Do you have a group at work, church, or social club looking for an opportunity to give back?  Click on the Volunteer link to sign up for opportunities to bring your friends together.  Otherwise, you’ll hear from me from time to time when we have a volunteer event coming up where you can join Red Door Society to help.  They are always looking for box builders, food sorting, and help at special events. Some people even work regular hours at the food pantries serving the community.

Food Donations – Below is a list of their most needed items and you can drop off food at either the Stark or Thompson location. Or even better, host a food drive of your own!  Right now, Sunshine really needs your help finding ways and places to do food drives.  Do know of a place that would be a good fit?  Maybe your office, school, church, gym, or other favorite business?  Sunshine’s warehouse manager, Andrew, can help coordinate and drop off our signature blue barrel simply by emailing him at andrew@sunshinedivision.org to coordinate the drop-off!

·      Canned Meats

·      Pasta

·      Rice

·      Cereal

·      Canned Soup/Broth

·      Peanut Butter

·      Canned/Dried Beans

·      Canned Fruit

·      Canned Vegetables

·      Cooking Oil

·      Shelf-Stable Milk

Do you or someone you know need assistance?

Visit one of the two pantry locations for easy access to either a box of food or shopping in the pantry for specific items that you may need.

Thompson Food Pantry

687 N Thompson Street

Portland, OR 97227

Pantry Hours:

Monday – Friday 9:30am to 11:00am & 12:30pm to 3:30pm

Saturday 9:30am to 1:00pm

Stark Food Pantry

12436 SE Stark St

Portland, OR 97233

Pantry Hours:

Tuesday – Friday 9:30am to 11:00am & 12:30pm to 3:30pm

Saturday 9:00am to 1:00pm

If you or someone you know is homebound, medically fragile, and/or unable to leave their home, you can click “Request a Food Box” to sign up for a food box delivery. Sunshine delivers to Portland and Gresham addresses within a 10-mile radius of 687 N Thompson St or 12436 SE Stark St.