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SUNNY Temp: 73 °F Wind: N at 3 mph Wednesday, May 21, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend April 30, 2003 Pamela Joy, left, and Scout Monson of Ashland unload food recovered from a local grocery store that they will distribute to organizations that help the hungry. Joy is the founder of Food for People, which serves some 1,000 people a week. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Feeding the hungry Food rescue project serves 1,000 a week By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune It seemed a simple enough errand at the time. Back in 1996, someone asked Pamela Joy to pick up extra potatoes and leftover bread from an Ashland restaurant and two bakeries. If she didn’t mind the effort, the food would be used to feed hungry families in Southern Oregon. She didn’t mind. In fact, the chore stuck with Joy, who was moved to start Food for People, an Ashland food rescue project that now serves some 1,000 people a week. "I felt so badly about the fact that so many people were starving in the world and I couldn’t do anything about it," recalls Joy. "Then I found out that it was possible to take food from one place and take it to another place and all I needed was my car!" For seven years, the 53-year-old woman who makes her living as a clown and a healer quietly has organized local efforts to match leftover food with people who need it. "I’m a filler in of chinks," says Joy, a short, sturdy woman with a quick smile and a mop of brown curls. "It seems to me that what matters is seeing what needs to be done and doing it." These days, that includes picking up pull-dated dairy products, breads and produce from the PC Market of Choice in Ashland and distributing it to seven local groups that feed the hungry. "Let’s see. On Mondays, it goes to the Northwest Seasonal Workers and on Tuesdays, it goes to Uncle Food’s Diner," says Joy, pausing to think. "On Thursdays, it goes to Head Start and on Fridays, it goes to Food Not Bombs." Joy figures she or her several volunteers spend three hours a day, seven days a week tending the project. That includes daily visits to the Market of Choice, where she rummages wrist-deep through a bin of trimmings and leftover produce. "See?" says Joy, triumphantly pulling two bunches of perfectly good radishes, several single stalks of celery and a plump green pepper from the clean container of vegetation. Not everyone would be willing to cull through broccoli scraps, acknowledges Sean Grunwald, manager of Market of Choice. Nor would they be willing to nag the store into recycling metal cans and plastic bottles, as Joy recently did. "Pamela goes one step farther than anyone we’ve ever known or dealt with," he says. "She’s just out there trying to do a lot of good." Organizers of local agencies that provide food praise Joy’s initiative and tenacity. "We get a lot from her efforts," says Carlotta Woolcock, operations manager for the Northwest Seasonal Workers Association in Medford. "She’s really done an excellent job. She’s very much on her own and she’s built a very positive rapport with local organizations." Unlike a similar — but much larger — food rescue program run by ACCESS Inc. of Medford, Joy’s effort is not supported by any agency. There’s no board of directors, only a group of longtime volunteers. Funding is almost non-existent. "Nobody gets paid and nobody has to pay," says Joy. In fact, many of the people who receive food from Joy also work as volunteers. Scout Monson, an Ashland nursing home worker, says it makes her feel good to lend her truck and a hand. "When I lost my job, Pamela offered me food," Monson recalls. "I said I don’t feel good about just taking it.’" Volunteer effort and donated food, not money, are what keep Food for People going, says Joy, who did recently apply for a $900 grant from the Ashland Community Food Store. For the first time, she’s seeking a little money to help offset costs of gas for herself and volunteers and to pay for sundries — coffee filters, for instance — for the groups she serves. Annie Hoy, spokeswoman for the food cooperative, says board members were surprised and impressed by Joy’s application, one of 19 requests the group received. "We all know Joy, but we didn’t know she was doing this," Hoy says. "Her application was so heart-warming. We were touched that she does it completely out of the goodness of her heart." But Joy, who performs locally as the clown HeartFool, says she’s no saint. "I’m not super-smart and I’m definitely not rich," she says. "If I can do this, anybody can do this. There are countless ways to volunteer." To reach Joy, call 482-5330. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] ACCESS praises food efforts Pamela Joy’s independent food rescue efforts drew praise from ACCESS Inc. of Medford, Southern Oregon’s largest provider of emergency food. "It’s a fantastic example of people in our community pulling together," said Russ Koehler, resource development manager for ACCESS. Pulling together to help feed people is especially important in Oregon, which last year posted the highest hunger rate in the nation. In Jackson County, more than 2,500 people each month receive emergency food rations, a figure that’s grown about 20 percent in the past year, according to Koehler. Gov. Ted Kulongoski has designated April 27 to May 3 as Hunger Awareness Week in the state. Koehler suggests that a $40 donation to ACCESS can feed a family of four for 20 days. ACCESS runs its own food rescue program, which enlists donations from nearly 40 area restaurants and grocery stores. For more information about hunger programs, call ACCESS at 779-6691. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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