The founders of Good Neighbor Family Pantry began feeding the hungry in 2013 when a group of farmers decided to band together to minimize waste and improve the availability of produce to those less fortunate.
By the summer of 2014, word had spread, and the need for larger equipment was critical. The farmers launched a massive public awareness campaign, including a crowd-funding effort. The community was so excited, they gathered over 250 sponsors in just 30 days, and raised over $32,000 in donated cash, materials, and support. The support from the community allowed them to fix the old equipment they were abusing, as well as purchase a dedicated truck and trailer, more than doubling their volume, and a non-profit was formed.
The Good Neighbor Family Pantry, run by those same dedicated farmers, is now providing over 14,000 pounds of fruit, vegetables, and other food items, and feeding over 800 people per month. They work with over 20 local rotary groups to feed those that cannot make it to the farm, and supply 4 food banks with all the produce they can handle.
Whether you are looking for a great cause to support, or you could use a little help with food this week, you’re welcome here! We ALWAYS need volunteer help, and donations of building material, tools, bags, carts, and/or cash are always welcome! Follow us on Facebook to stay in touch, click on the “Events” link for a list of our food events, or use the
“Contact Us” form for any questions.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
The Good Neighbor's at the Family Pantry
Our Board of Directors
Tyler Boggs
President
Elizabeth Boggs
Treasurer
For as long as he can remember, Tyler has loved helping people. Whether he was fighting off bullies in school, or defending his country, many of his strongest memories are standing against the odds defending those in need-and loving every minute of it.
After jumping from corporation to corporation, finding little satisfaction, Tyler returned to farming, and fell in love with the idea of a life of service. He passionately developed, with his wife, barter and work-trade systems to allow those in need to feed those they love.
In 2013, He began developing gleaning relationships to increase food quality and availability, and the Good Neighbor Family Pantry was born. The organizations passion is to give others a hand up, rather than a hand-out, and to equip them with the knowledge, experience, and resources to become more self-sufficient and able to share the abundance we are all blessed with.
A few short years later, and Tyler has never been happier. Sharing what he has, and providing a sanctuary where people can nourish their bodies, minds, hearts, and souls... other than being a good husband and father, there's no higher calling in the world to Tyler (although rock climbing, scuba diving, sky diving, and fishing are close seconds) ;)
Friendly Faces at the Pantry
Volunteers at Large
Growing up, Liz remembers her mom putting a can of spaghetti and meatballs in front of her with a can opener and a fork. Since then she's had to unlearn her habits of eating and learn where food really comes from (not a can!). Back in 2010, her family learned about the commercial food industry and decided that they weren't going to support animals inhumanely raised in tight quarters, and produce so full of chemical fillers, processed to the point that most nutrition is lost. It wasn't long, however, until they saw their food bill jump from $400/mo to over $1200/mo! That's not a food bill, that's a mortgage payment! They quickly realized spending that much money on food wasn't going to be sustainable in the long run. Soon after, they had animals filling the pastures and seeds planted in the soil.
When GNFP was founded in 2014, Liz and her husband had been feeding the livestock excess produce from grocery store distributors. The first day they opened the farm to the community to glean from the food that was too good for the animeals, they both were in tears. They had NO IDEA the need for food in their community was so profound!
GNFP has since been providing produce and meat to hundreds of families every week. Working for the pantry has taught Elizabeth that giving is more than just an act of service, its a way of living.
When not working on the farm, Liz works both as an ER Nurse in the local hospitals and as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, seeing individuals and working with groups on using food as medicine to heal the body. As an herbologist and fermentationist, she very much enjoys experimenting with food preservation and creating alternative healing remedies in her spare time.
Sue Hutchinson
Pantry Director
Sue first came to GNFP as a way to keep her children fed while still making ends meet. She is a single mom of 3 amazing kids and worked as an elementary reading teacher. Things were really tight for her and GNFP became an amazing resource, lowering her monthly food costs to almost nothing. The more time she spent at the pantry, getting to know Liz, Tyler, Joshua and the other volunteers, the more GNFP began to mean to her life. Sue resonated so deeply, not only with their mission, but with the way they go about it. Coming to the pantry never felt like a hand out, or a shameful thing.
There is such a spirit of camaraderie, hope and love at GNFP. Each person who comes to the pantry becomes a partner in bringing change to the community. When the opportunity arose to join the GNFP team in a more concrete way, Sue was thrilled! She loved working with all of the volunteers and gleaners, getting to know them, hearing their stories and sharing ideas on how to prepare and preserve the food. So, taking on the human resources side of things made a lot of sense. She wanted to be a part of providing other people with the life changing experience that she had here.
Sue is passionate about how different GNFP is from many other food pantries. It is her ongoing desire to keep that community and model of outreach thriving and expanding to reach even more people. Working with GNFP really has changed her life. She has been able to become much more financially stable, as well as feeling a new sense of empowerment and community support to begin pursuing her long term life goals. Looking to her future at GNFP, she is excited about all the learning and growth potential there, personally and corporately. She loves how working here continues to mold and shape the way both herself and kids see the world and understand true community.
Angela Palmer
Animal Care Specialist
Angela came to Heart2Heart Farms after having her mother in-law move in with her, and realzing she needed to find a niche of her own. She debated getting a job in retail, not for the money, but to just get out of the house. When her best friend mentioned that the farm needed an animal care specialist, Angela jumped on it fast! One round of calf feeding and she was hooked!
Angela loves being able to watch all the animals grow into healthy beautiful creatures and see each of thier individual personalites develop. Watching the smiles on volunteers faces, young and old as they help feed calves is certainly a favorite of Angelas, but right behind it is seeing all the families smiles as they help to bring healthy food home to their familes through the pantry.
Furthermore, the Good Neighbor Family Pantry has helped Angela feed her own family on a weekly basis, and more importantly having acess to fruits and vegetables has helped her entire family eat better and seeing the difference of a healthy diet that was not always possible before finding the Good Neighbor Family Pantry.
When not at the farm, Angela is an artist and loves painting, as well as spending time with her husband and two daughters.
Johanna Labahn Lives in Newberg, Oregon, with her husband and three children. Johanna and her family were brought to Newberg as a result of the Boggs big hearts and great generosity, when in 2011 she and her family suddenly found themselves homeless and without anywhere to turn. Tyler and Elizabeth Boggs opened their hearts and their homes to the Labahn’s, and formed a lasting relationship that was the start of something great. Johanna’s time with the Boggs brought much growth and opportunities. Johanna has worked for a large financial institution for the last three years, and her husband is working toward buying the business that he has been employed at for several years.
Good Neighbor Family Pantry came about as a natural result of The Boggs’ generous and hardworking nature. When the opportunity to start a non-profit to help the many families that find themselves in a similar position to where Johanna and her family found themselves just six short years ago, that opportunity was seized and Johanna has had the privilege of being a part of this incredible life changing organization from the very start. Johanna is the Secretary of Good Neighbor Family Pantry, and has had the privilege of voting in the rules and regulations that have allowed this non-profit to expand, and go from accommodating a few families a week to hundreds of families that run the risk of going without food in their stomachs. Johanna is proud knowing that she has had a place in making such a difference in the lives of people who have one less worry in a world of uncertainty.
Johanna Labahn
Secretary
Amber was originally an Administrative Assistant/x-ray tech/phlebotomist before she had twins. Since then she has been a stay at home mom homeschooling to her kiddos, but she wanted them to have the small farm experience she had growing up. Through a series of things happening, the door to GNFP opened and she and her family have been so blessed! It has been amazing!
Amber is definitely looking forward to helping others with a hand up and making connections in the community, she firmly believes we are all better when there are many hands helping. As a parent she only has a short window to teach her kids empathy and hard work.
When no working at GNFP, Ambers weeks are filled with making other peoples life better. Mondays she tries to work with the homeless population and share her gifts with others so they might shine with their own. She fits in home school lessons each day then cooks dinner for a small family of believers and send cards to those with prayer requests. Tuesday she prepares her home to receive a small group of families who study together. They eat and pray and try to raise up their kids to be better than they could be. Wednewday she helps out at the farm as much as possible and brings helping hands to the COLA enrichment classes. Thursdays alternate for cleaning houses for the elderly/surgery stricken and is also her politics day with board meetings and club meetings and rallies on various days to plan. Fridays she helps out on the farm and evenings are for family game night/movie night. Amber leaves her Saturdays open to helping anyone who needs it from clean up of yards, replacing insulation and heating ducts under houses, to roofing and French drains. Sundays are spent refilling with a body of believers who are living as she does. Often times she makes the cakes or baked good for the potluck to follow services or a baby/bridal shower that day.
Amber Dawson
Committee Chair
Natalie Rayback
Graphic & Website Design
Before starting at GNFP, Natalie was a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, with a passion for graphic design. Upon hearing about Heart2Heart farms through a customer, Natalie thought she would check it out. At her volunteer interview, she mentioned she was quite good at design, which they desperately needed.
Natalie started working with GNFP because she loved the heart of the organization and how welcoming they were! She's always done graphic design, but never done it professionaly, GNFP was excited to give her the chance to show her skills and build her confidence in the graphic world. Upon hearing that she wanted to try website design, the pantry gave her the green light to to redesign theirs!
As a result of working with GNFP Natalie has confidently expanded her customer base and has been given the chance to further her graphic skills. She has also learned a lot about her community and the way it only takes a few dreams to make a difference to so many people in need. As Natalie works more with GNFP she is looking forward to learning more about graphic and web design and building upon her passion and skills as she helps the organization to flourish and thrive.
When not working with The Good Neighbor Family Pantry, Natalie spends her time volunteering her graphic skills with local Sherwood organizations as well as lots of quality time with the loves of her life including her two children, two dogs and two horses.
Daizee Torres
Food Pickup Coordinator
Before Daizee began volunteering at the Good Neighbor Family Pantry, she was a Full Spectrum Doula and Holistic Parent Educator and a busy homeschooling Mama.
Daizee started as a gleaner, looking for affordable ways to get wholesome food on her family's table and ended up volunteering to do pick up runs so she could give back to this awesome organization.
She has gained a strong sense of community and deeper level of happiness and satisfaction with life through the ability to give and help those in need.
Daizee is greatly looking forward to creating a clothing closet to fill a huge gap for individuals and families struggling with basic needs like weather appropriate clothing, well fitting shoes, sanitary products and clothes appropriate for job interviews, all of which could greatly improve lives.
When not volunteering with GNFP, Daizee is busy raising her 3 daughters, caring for her garden, studying midwifery texts, enjoying music, camping all over Oregon and learning how to make ferments and other nutritious foods.