By Melissa Wagoner
Kim Merklin has taken her students on a lot of field trips during the 14 years she has taught at Bethany Charter School, but few have been as impactful as those she and her class of 30 seventh and eighth grade students have taken to the Marion Polk Food Share.
“I was astonished the first time I walked in,” Merklin said. Her late mother, Janette Riley, founded the nonprofit in 1981. “I hadn’t really tracked it in all these years… but it’s so cool to see it’s all over Oregon.”
An economist working for the Department of Agriculture, Merklin’s mom established a way to combat the issues of hunger and food waste by connecting farmers with community-based foodbanks.
“I think she saw the potential of that partnership,” Merklin said. “And I think she saw the potential for it to be a really important thing.” Riley didn’t live to see her dream reach its potential. She died of cancer in 1982. But the program expanded and, in 2023, provided monthly food assistance to over 13,000 families, meals to over 8.1 million community members and helped over 644 households grow healthy food.
Merklin’s students have volunteered, packing 4,000 lbs. of carrots, apples and tomatillos in 2023 and 2,700 lbs. of mushrooms in 2024.
“What’s really great about it is that every student showed up,” Merklin said. “I believe in the saying, ‘many hands make light work’.” She also believes that offering her students new experiences is one of the most valuable lessons she can provide.
“We take a field trip every month,” she said, “so they can have a different vision of themselves in the world. It’s essential work, and if I don’t teach it, they don’t learn it.”
