Wendy Lehner, executive director of Compassion 360, a Ridgefield faith-based charity, said that many residents are struggling financially, even in what is perceived as a wealthy community.
Compassion 360’s food bank, which serves about 80 families a week, has had a 27% uptick in requests over the past three months compared to last year.
“Sometimes, if they’re a single mom, the mom’s working two jobs just to make ends meet,” Lehner said. “And if it’s a two-income family, both of them are working full-time in their jobs and they still can’t seem to make their house payment and have enough provisions for their family.”
Compassion 360 was founded in 2015 in Ridgefield to support students in financial need. After the Ridgefield Family Resource Center took over school district operations, the nonprofit moved its operations into the Ridgefield Church of the Nazarene as an independent food bank. The organization’s goal expanded to assist the broader community, particularly working families struggling to cover basic expenses.
Food insecurity remains an unseen but growing issue in the region. Data from the school district shows 24.1% of children in the Ridgefield School District qualify for free and reduced meals, while that number rises to 39% in Woodland and 25% in La Center. Additionally, 27.3% of Ridgefield residents and 30.7% of La Center residents are considered low income.
A recent survey of a local Facebook group held by Compassion 360 found that 15% of respondents who need food assistance avoid food banks because they feel embarrassed, while 7.8% can’t access them due to work schedules.
Lehner and her team of around 90 volunteers work tirelessly to ensure that families receive food in a way that preserves their dignity. For this reason, they switched to a shopping-style food distribution model called “The Market” four weeks ago. Instead of receiving a pre-packed box, families select the items they need off shelves, offering them more dignity and choice.
“People are scared to go into a food bank. It’s not in people’s comfort zone,” she said. “When they come in here and they are welcomed and thanked for coming, then some of those barriers go away, and they feel more comfortable seeking food help.”
The shift was inspired by feedback from food bank guests who expressed a desire for more autonomy in choosing their food.
“That small change makes a big difference in how people feel about asking for help,” Lehner said.
Expanding access with refrigerated lockers
While food banks exist to help those in need, many working families are unable to access them during regular hours.
“If you talk to other food banks in our state and in Oregon and you ask them, ‘How do you serve your working poor?’ they all say, ‘Well, we don’t. We can’t have an evening shift,’” Lehner said. “The logistics of doing that is really challenging.”
Rather than accept this limitation, Compassion 360 plans to launch a new program. Under Compassion 360’s future refrigerated locker program, visitors could apply for a refrigerated locker to store pre-ordered food for pickup at their convenience.
“They can come and pick their food up whenever they can get here. That could be at 3 o’clock in the morning, it could be at 10 o’clock at night, whenever they can get here based on their work schedule,” Lehner said.
The organization is currently seeking funding for the program.
“It’s expensive, and so we’re working on a way to fund that,” Lehner said. “We’re applying for a few grants, but that’s our next step.”
However, Lehner stressed that the program is still in development.
“(We) need to have awareness about our plan in order to fundraise for it,” she said. “But it’s probably a year away before we would actually be able to start taking names of people that neet it."
For those interested in supporting the developing program, Lehner encouraged community members to reach out.
“If … this resonates with them and they’d like to give a large donation to go toward that program, that would be amazing.”
For more information on how to donate or volunteer, Compassion 360 can be reached via email at ridgefieldcompassion360@gmail.com.
