OFS created the first statewide foodbank network in the United States in the early 1980s.
Around the same time period, the US government established programs to distribute food and other commodities in order to deplete federal stockpiles and assist low-income Americans.
[1] In 1988 Oregon Food Share started the Waterfront Blues Festival, an annual music festival that takes place over 4 July weekend in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.
In 2018, the food bank stepped away from organizing the Blues Festival after 30 years but remained a beneficiary.
[2][3] Around May 2024, the Oregon Food Bank issued a statement calling for ceasefire in Gaza, which prompted 12 Jewish organizations to issue an intent to stop financial contribution until the organization withdraws the statement.