Farmers Ending Hunger kicked off a major, collaborative and innovative project to donate 90,000 pounds of pancake mix milled from 1,600 bushels of wheat to help the Oregon Food Bank Network fight hunger throughout Oregon and southwest Washington.

Ty, Kinzie and T.J. Hansell of Hansell Farms and 12H Farms, and Darren Ditchen of Golden Valley East grew and harvested a major portion of the 1,600 bushels of wheat. Oregon Wheat Foundation growers also contributed a major share, and Farmers Ending Hunger donors provided the rest.

Pendleton Flour Mills milled the wheat into flour, and Continental Mills mixed and packaged the flour into 50-pound bags of pancake mix totaling 90,000 pounds - two truckloads of pancake mix - enough to make 1.89-million pancakes.

Oregon Food Bank donors came together to create a nutritious, ready-to-eat pea-soup mix for people who are hungry in Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

Each donor added a vital ingredient to the pot. Chet Pryor from Eagle Ranch donated dried peas. Oregon Spice donated herbs and spices. And Garden Valley and Inland Empire Foods donated a portion of the processing costs. The Kaiser Permanente Foundation donated additional processing costs for the soup mix. Kaiser Permanente employees provided the volunteers to package the soup mix in family-sized containers.

"I am in awe of the ability and willingness of these diverse partners to leverage their combined resources to create a valuable, nutritious product for the OFB Network," says Mike Moran, OFB's food resource manager.

Fred Meyer is the first major grocery retailer to achieve 100 percent participation of its Oregon and southwest Washington stores in Oregon Food Bank's Fresh Alliance program. All 57 of its stores in Oregon and southwest Washington donate fresh meat, dairy, deli and produce items to OFB.

"OFB's Fresh Alliance program maintains the highest food-handling standards, " says Mike Moran, OFB food resource manager. "We ensure that food safety is never compromised."

"Protein and dairy are often missing from emergency food boxes, but are important for a healthy diet," said Rachel Bristol, CEO of Oregon Food Bank. "It is great to work with all of Fred Meyer's Oregon and southwest Washington stores to provide these much-needed items to families in our communities."

United Natural Foods, the largest natural and organic foods distributor in the country, opened a distribution center in Ridgefield, Wash., last December and immediately began donating to Oregon Food Bank.

"Within the first month it opened, United Natural Foods donated 33,000 pounds of food to OFB," says Mike Moran, OFB's food resource manager. "Since then, we've continued to see a wide variety of wholesome and organic products, from milk, to canned stews."

Three years ago, a few fishermen realized they were catching more fish than they could eat. They decided to start The Oregon Tuna Classic, a fishing tournament to help fight hunger. Since then, The Oregon Tuna Classic has grown from 17 to more than 140 teams. And its donations to Oregon Food Bank have increased from about 100 tuna to more than 7,300 pounds of tuna and $25,000.

Oregon Food Bank thanks all of its generous food donors for helping to fight hunger. Every pound donated makes a difference. Here are OFB's top 20 food donors for the fiscal year to date.

· Fred Meyer
· Con Agra Frozen Foods
· Albertsons
· Pacific Coast Fruit
· Carolina Logistics
· National Frozen Foods
· Amstad Produce
· Safeway
· Columbia Fresh Produce Sales
· Tualatin Valley Potato
· Tropicana Beverages
· Unified Western Grocers
· Kraft
· Pacific Foods of Oregon
· Organically Grown
· United Natural Foods
· Seashare
· Altivity Packaging
· Giant Produce
· Select Onion

Click here for a list of OFB's immediate food needs.

Oregon Food Bank also needs boxes, bags, totes and repackaging equipment. Click here for a list of OFB's goods and services needs.

Oregon Food Bank is an affiliate of America's Second Harvest-The Nation's Food Bank Network.