2015
It all started with a spaghetti dinner…
In 2015, our Founder, Dave Gunderson was searching for a meaningful opportunity to help in a city he’s always called home. An acquaintance of his had been named Head Football Coach at Jefferson High School. Dave asked if anyone was providing team dinners before football games. The answer was no. Jefferson is in a low-income area of the city and team parents simply don’t have the funding or time to provide team meals. Since, Hopscotch Foundation has provided over 60 consecutive game day meals to the team.
Dave also noted that many of the student athletes were hungry when they went out to practice. This was addressed quickly by providing healthy snacks to all students at Jefferson. It truly made a difference.
The news of this program spread across the city. Several high schools in low-income communities needed the same kind of help. Also, many K-5 and middle schools asked for help. By 2019, Hopscotch was providing healthy food and snacks to approximately 20 schools and other youth organizations. We’d also set up food pantries in several schools throughout the city.
2020-2021
The Pandemic Years
In March of 2020, schools closed because of the pandemic. Hopscotch Foundation knew that many of the kids we served, and their families, would be in trouble. We were able to change our operating plan over a weekend.
The Covid Response USDA Act went into effect in April of 2020. Its goal was to distribute food boxes to families in need across the country. Pacific Coast Fruit, a vendor of Hopscotch, was selected as the main distributor for both Oregon and Washington. Hopscotch obtained a vast amount of refrigerated space. We began distributing food boxes, supplied by Pacific Coast Fruit, to the north and northeast Portland areas, into low-income areas we knew well.
Over the next 18 months, Hopscotch distributed over 1,000 tons of food to those in need in the areas we serve. Our efforts were recognized by many. Hopscotch Foundation was named Oregon’s Outstanding Philanthropic Foundation for 2020, a year that was so difficult for so many.
2021 - Current
ControlleD Environmental Agriculture
When school resumed in September of 2021, Hopscotch returned to distributing healthy snacks to schools, as we’d done for years before.
In addition, we began a major new initiative around Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA), which some simply refer to as “urban farming”. Hopscotch believes that climate change necessitates that we rethink how and where we grow our food. Traditional farming is struggling for many reasons; drought, heat fluctuations, smoke, herbicides, etc. Also, the carbon footprint from trucking and shipping food to major population centers is significant.
The problem of food insecurity in low-income areas has gone on for years. Why not move “farming” right into major metropolitan areas where healthy food is accessible to all?
We began with hydroponic units, growing produce inside in a controlled environment, with no soil. Most units went into K-5 schools, both for education and food distribution within the school community. Our efforts were a success.
Next, we received funding to build a large aquaponics tower “farm”. Aquaponics utilizes fish waste to fertilize crops grown inside in an optimal controlled environment. The fish are kept in large tanks and layers for plants are built vertically. LED lighting is used for energy efficiency. Produce can be grown year-round, so the yields are massive. Plus, aquaponics farming requires less than 1% of the water required in traditional farming.
Students from Jefferson High School have spent the summer of 2022 building an aquaponics farm and learning about how to grow food within the unit. The unit is now operating and will provide massive amounts of produce for the low-income communities surrounding the high school.
Controlled Environmental Agriculture is our future because of climate change. Hopscotch’s efforts going forward will be heavily focused on CEA. Our goal is to educate our students for potential career paths in what’s soon to be a massive industry, and a “new normal” for society.