Recently, SyncWords was glad to join hands with the Oregon Food Bank to caption their Harvest Dinner fundraiser to raise funds in its fight against hunger in its communities. We are happy to announce that their fundraiser crossed its target amount of raising $500,000 to end hunger and its root causes in Oregonian communities. Congratulations to them from Team SyncWords!
Oregon Food Bank’s core mission, from distributing meals all across the state to advocating for school lunches, is to ensure that no one in their communities go hungry, be it a parent or a school-going child. Their aim is to reduce hunger and food insecurity through summer meals, funds, distribution camps and all possible efforts to reduce hunger and thereby poverty in half. Oregon Food Bank hosts events throughout the year, from volunteer days to community-based fundraisers. The Harvest Dinner is their signature fall fundraiser, an event that unites a community of donors, business leaders, volunteers, philanthropists and advocates to raise funds for food advocacy and empowerment.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden also had a message for all those tuning in and recognized the food bank’s efforts for “strong food systems” and “inclusive democracy”. Some of the direct beneficiaries of the food bank’s efforts are the tribes in Portland, which is home to more than 380 federally recognized tribes in the urban area.
By targeting food security for their communities as their core mission, the food bank is working towards ensuring social, racial and economic justice for all its constituents, through advocacy of basic human rights for all. 244 donors contributed amounts big and small to make a notable difference to those most in need in their local communities. As the fundraiser neared its end, it was clear to all those who had tuned in that they were witnessing a changemaker in action. In the words of their board chair, Sarah Opfer, “Tonight is yet another reminder that there’s nothing this community can’t achieve that, together, we can end hunger for good. When we come together as a community, we can change systems and achieve justice for all.”
Their hashtag for the campaign, #EmergeStronger, resonated with their donors, as it did with our Live Captioning team here at SyncWords. As you will know, inclusivity is at the heart of what we do here at SyncWords. You will recall that SyncWords was also the captioning partner for the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition’s 2021 Global Meeting. And we firmly believe that when we come together to work towards a better world, we all will emerge stronger. We wish the Oregon Food Bank all the best in their drives and fundraising for years to come, and we consider ourselves lucky to have captioned an event of much-needed change. May your tribe increase!
For those interested, you may download the transcript of the fundraiser. Making transcripts of events available to download helps in not only capturing the key moments of each event, but also helps those who might have missed the event and want a minute-by-minute account of it. As part of live captioning solutions, SyncWords offers many value-added services – check them out here!
