How Our Customers Are Helping

Oregon’s 2024 wildfire season came early and aggressively, with more acres burned than any other year on record. Inspired by first-responders, combined with the devastation caused by wildfires, we activated our emergency fund to support wildfire relief efforts in Oregon. The donation was split between four organizations directing resources to those impacted by wildfire as identified by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management: Oregon Cattlemen’s Association’s Wildfire Fund, Oregon Farm Bureau’s Wildfire Relief Fund, Oregon State University’s Post-Fire Recovery Fund, and the Oregon Chapter of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

In August 2023, we activated our emergency fund to help support wildfire relief in efforts in the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Having adopted the nation’s most recent Bottle Bill, Hawaii is a “sister state” to Oregon in employing a deposit return system to reduce litter and improve recycling outcomes. The donation was made to Maui United Way to help families and nonprofits directly impacted. A donation was also made to the Oregon Chapter of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

In July 2022, severe summer heat affected much of the state. We activated the fund to help support a total of 10 nonprofits across the state operating cooling centers and shelters in the following locations: Bend, Grants Pass, Independence, Klamath Falls, Milwaukie, Newberg, Portland, Roseburg, and Salem.

In the spring of 2022, we activated our emergency fund to help the millions of Ukrainians who were displaced from their home by the war ravaging their county. The donation was made to Portland-based Mercy Corps, a leading global provider of humanitarian relief in time of crisis. Mercy Corps provided on-the-ground support and services for refugees and funded local organizations working to meet the most urgent humanitarian needs in the region.

In both February and December of 2021, extreme cold winter weather affected much of the state. We activated the fund to help support a total of 20 nonprofits across the state operating warming shelters in the following locations: Ashland, Astoria, Bend, Eugene, Grants Pass, Lebanon, Madras, Medford, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Portland, Redmond, Roseburg, Salem and Springfield.

When the Oregon Historical Society was damaged by vandalism in October 2020, a man named Oscar donated a dollar bill to help with repairs, along with a note that said, “Hello, I’m homeless so I don’t have much to give you, just some of my bottle collecting money. But I saw your windows got broken and I wanted to help. You once gave me a free tour before the pandemic, so this is a thank you!” Inspired by Oscar, we launched the fund again to raise funds for OHS to help with repairs.

As wildfires devastated Oregon communities in late summer of 2020, we activated the OBRC Emergency Fund to support firefighting organizations. These nonprofits included: Albany Fire Fighters Community Assistance Fund; Ashland Firefighters Charitable Fund; Hoodland Volunteer Firefighters Association; Rocky Point Fire and EMS; Salem Fire Foundation; Sheridan Volunteer Firefighters Association; Sutherlin Firefighters Association; and Umatilla Volunteer Firefighters Association.

More than 860,000 people rely on Oregon Food Bank’s network each year, and food assistance needs rose with the COVID-19 pandemic. During the spring of 2020, we launched the OBRC Emergency Fund to help support our Oregon neighbors and communities with bottle and can donations from BottleDrop customers. As Susannah Morgan, CEO of Oregon Food Bank said, “Together, we can prevent hunger from becoming a symptom of COVID-19.”