THE CRISIS

SNAP benefit cuts are eliminating 828,000 meals annually from Clatsop County households. Combined with Astoria's status as having Oregon's highest per capita homeless population and the approaching winter season, families are facing impossible choices between rent, utilities, and food.

OUR RESPONSE

Emergency Heritage Harvest Food Swap & Pantry Stock Event

Sunday, November 23, 2025

10am-2pm

at the Astoria Armory (1636 Duane Street)

This is a no-barrier community food exchange where neighbors can bring shelf-stable foods, produce, or preserves they can spare and take what they need to stock their pantries for winter. We're also offering heritage food preservation demonstrations and budget-stretching cooking skills from community knowledge holders.

The event draws on our region's 10,000-year tradition of community food sharing—from indigenous preservation systems to immigrant cannery workers' resourcefulness. We're proving that when everyone contributes what they can, there's enough for everyone.

All food remaining after the event will be donated to Clatsop Community Action for distribution through their food bank network.

• One in four Clatsop County residents faces food insecurity—help us teach 500 families the heritage skills that turn $20 into a week of nourishing meals.

• We have less than 10 years before the last generation who knows traditional food preservation techniques is gone—donate today to capture this knowledge before it disappears forever.

• For the cost of feeding one family through a food bank for a month ($200), we can teach 50 families skills that will feed them for a lifetime—multiply your impact now.

• The Columbia River Delta produces millions of pounds of food annually while 20% of our neighbors go hungry—help us bridge this gap with one festival that connects 1,000 people to local abundance.

• Our local food tradition holders are in their 70s and 80s—contribute now to document their irreplaceable knowledge at this November's festival.