Sharon Straus, z”l, founder of the Sunshine Pantry Food Bank, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 21 at the age of 75.

Straus founded the Sunshine Pantry in 1981. While storing food donations for one of her sons’ Cub Scout food drives, she had the realization that families faced hunger all year. She launched her project with a simple objective: “We believe no child should go to bed hungry.”

The Sunshine Pantry operated from Straus’ garage in Beaverton, serving hundreds of families every month, until 2007 when the operation moved to an industrial space. Straus went above and beyond the usual food pantry basics; she ensured she had ingredients for people from minority communities to cook the foods they knew and loved. She maintained an ample stock of kosher foods. She also stocked school supplies and other essentials – and some fun stuff for kids, including birthday cakes.

"I want the children to feel normal," she told The Oregonian in 2007. "When a family's poor, it's embarrassing for a child to bring home friends from school and find an empty cupboard, or nothing fun to eat. So yes, they get milk and cheese and bread. But also chips and candy. Those are what make a child smile." 

Straus received the Governor's Award for Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Achievement from Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski in 2009, the Service to Beaverton Award in 2008 and the Rabbi Joshua Stampfer Community Enrichment Award in 2017.

"I want people who come here to feed their stomachs and their souls," Straus told The Oregonian in 2007.

She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Stewart Straus, and her four sons: Brian, David (Irina), Eric (Hiliary) and Robert (Jennifer), and grandchildren Maiya, Maksim, Markus, Oliver and Cecily. She was preceded in death by parents Milton & Ilene Rosenthal, z"l.

Her funeral was Sunday, Aug. 25 at Shaarie Torah Cemetery.

More information about Sunshine Pantry is available online at facebook.com/SunshinePantry.org.