The volunteer-run North Plains Food Bank is asking for resources to keep feeding people with care, integrity and compassion, writes Executive Director Lora Dexheimer. (Submitted by North Plains Food Bank)

In the heart of North Plains, we’re facing a crisis that no one’s talking about — but it impacts hundreds of families every single week.

There is no grocery store in our town. Not everyone can hop in a car and head to Hillsboro or Banks. For many of our neighbors — seniors, single parents, individuals with disabilities and families simply trying to make ends meet — access to basic food and essentials is a constant struggle.

For years, the North Plains Food Bank has tried to bridge that gap. But we’ve done far more than hand out boxes of canned goods — we listen, we connect, we support. We help people find housing, navigate health care, get their kids school supplies and connect with mental health services. We’re not just a food bank. We are, for many, a lifeline.

Our model is different. We’ve designed our space like a grocery store, where people can shop for what they need — choosing the items that make sense for their families, their diets and their dignity. That matters. It brings a level of humanity and respect to a process that can often feel humiliating or transactional. Choice is not a luxury; it’s part of what it means to be treated with care.

But now we are the ones in crisis.

Due to a deeply troubling legal issue involving our landlord — who was found to be secretly recording confidential conversations between our volunteers and clients — we are being evicted from the North Plains Senior Center. That betrayal of privacy and trust was bad enough, but the cost of finding a new space may break us. Rent is expected to jump from $200 a month to $2,500, assuming we can even locate a space at all. For a small, volunteer-run nonprofit with no salaries, no benefits and no funding from the city, this is devastating.

And yet we continue to grow, because the need keeps growing. The North Plains Food Bank now supports 365 total families and seniors (766 family members and 282 seniors) from 15 different cities across four counties. We are helping sustain eight other small, rural food banks — one of which was just removed from the Oregon Food Bank Network — by collecting and distributing nearly 6,000 pounds of food weekly. We’ve become a logistical hub for rural hunger relief, using borrowed space and personal vehicles.

We applied to join the Oregon Food Bank Network and were denied. We requested a $130,000 capital investment this year to purchase a refrigerated truck. That request was also denied. Instead, I load up my personal truck and trailer multiple times a week to make food runs and deliveries to families and partner banks — because no one else is going to do it.

We were fortunate to receive a $20,000 grant to purchase new freezers and refrigerators, but it’s not enough to meet the rising tide. With major changes coming to SNAP benefits, we are already seeing an uptick in first-time clients — families who once donated now find themselves in need. Seniors who never imagined needing help are standing in our lines. The weight is growing heavier, and we’re being asked to lift more without any tools.

North Plains is a resilient, hardworking community, but we cannot face this challenge alone. We need a permanent, affordable space. We need operational support. We need infrastructure — like a truck that can safely transport cold food to families across our region. And we need recognition — from local, county and state leaders — that rural hunger is real, urgent, and growing.

What we’re doing is working. But we can’t keep holding this system together with duct tape and donated hours. We can’t keep pushing forward while we’re priced out of the very city we serve.

The people of North Plains — and the families from 15 towns who rely on us — deserve stability, dignity and access to food. We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for the basics: the resources to keep feeding people with care, integrity and compassion.

If you’re reading this and wondering how to help: Now is the time. Share our story. Volunteer. Donate. Speak up. Demand better for your neighbors.

Because hunger should never be a part of anyone’s ZIP code.

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Lora Dexheimer is the executive director of the North Plains Food Bank.