Token Donation Program Update
To support the needs of our community and protect the health of our team and customers, we will be changing our token donation program to a fully electronic program. We will no longer hand out wood tokens.
2649 Commercial
St. SE
Salem Oregon, 97302
Call Us:
(503) 361-7973
Customer Support
Open Daily:
8:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Online store always open
4 Comments
I understand and support your decision to suspend the token program. However, I am disappointed in your decision to donate the funds instead to Marion Polk Food Share. I am a board member and Harvest Leader with Salem Harvest. We are a very strong partner with MPFS, delivering to them most of the 500,000 pounds of fresh produce we rescue from Valley farms every year. With only one salaried employee, supported by thousands of volunteers, we use our limited funds very efficiently: it costs us only 16 cents to harvest and deliver a pound of food to their warehouse. When you donate $800 to Salem Harvest, we turn around and give 5000 pounds of fresh food to MPFS. As you know so well from purchasing produce for your store, there is nothing MPFS can buy, even at a wholesale price, to replace what we give them each year. And this coming harvest season, more families than ever will be needing food, trying to stretch their constrained income due to the pandemic. Farmers are expecting good yields this year, and we are working to be ready to harvest as often and as much as we can.
Please take this as food for thought. I greatly respect and appreciate what Life Source is doing now to minimize risks to customers and staff, and I admire how much you do on a regular basis to support our community.
Hi Mady, thank you for your comment.
This decision wasn’t made lightly and was made out of necessity due to the time it took to count tokens and distribute funds. Due to the overwhelming nature of this crisis, we had to make a decision that allowed us to continue giving, while ensuring our customers received their orders in a timely manner.
With that said, we are contacting Salem Harvest and other fantastic organizations like Family Building Blocks and local schools to provide donations and community support anyway we can. If you’d like to speak to our Outreach Coordinator about Salem Harvest’s needs and how we can help, please contact paige@lifesourcenaturalfoods.com.
She is ready to help.
Thank you Mady!
– Felipe G., Director of Marketing
This is a great idea and one I believe you should continue into the future even after the virus pandemic has subsided. Marion Polk Food Share is one of the charities we try to donate to on a regular basis.
I tried using the wooden tokens but found I did not care for spending the extra time after completing my grocery shopping on that task. I would much rather say give my bag discount to local people-oriented charities (food banks, shelters, etc.) at checkout and WITHOUT having to fiddle around with putting a wooden token in a container. It isn’t the wooden token… it’s all about giving.
You might also consider adding that giving opportunity to the online shopping platform. I’m trying that out right now because of being part of the high-risk population during this pandemic.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this. I really like the community oriented spirit of Life Source.
Thank you Kathryn, we’re reviewing all options and determining a good course for the future of the Token Donation Program. We hope your family is safe during this troubling time. Thank you for supporting LifeSource Natural Foods. – Felipe G.