Proof is in the numbers, and at the Missoula Food Bank volunteers have served nearly 1,000 more people than they did a year ago, according to records kept by the nonprofit agency.
The good news, however, is that Missoula residents are generous and caring, said Aaron Brock, Missoula Food Bank development director.
“Our shelves, our warehouse look like sieves - food comes in, and then the next day, it's gone.”
On Sunday, the food bank got a huge boost from a handful of community-minded University of Montana students.
The students organized and held a food drive called “Missoula's Food for Families” in the foyer of the Missoula Public Library, where they collected well over 100 pounds of food.
“I'm pleasantly surprised by our turnout,” said Char Smith, one of the student organizers. “People brought in way more than I expected. I thought we would get a few soup cans here and there, but people came through the doors with armloads of food.
“We are very pleased.”
As part of a UM course called “Recreation Programming,” Smith said her classmates were required to organize an event that has a clear beneficiary.
While most of the projects in the class are recreation oriented, Smith and seven of her classmates decided to rally around the issue of hunger in Missoula.
“We just felt it was a good cause,” she said. “Our main objective is to help feed the hungry, but our other objective is get the community involved with this issue by bringing out some facts in our local community, facts across the state and the country.”
They accomplished that mission by posting giant, eye-catching posterboards that listed hunger statistics and facts.
The Sunday food drive was the grand finale of the students' project, many of whom also went door-to-door in the university neighborhood asking for canned goods on Halloween.
“People were very generous,” Smith said. “We collected over 75 pounds of food on that night alone.”
Local business stepped in to give the students a hand with Sunday's event by donating impressive items for several raffles the students held as a way to say thanks to all the people who donated food.
Among the prizes: a Camelback, donated by the Trail Head; Griz wear, donated by The Bookstore at UM; a fishing pole, donated by Brady's Sportsman's Surplus; and a box of flies from Grizzly Hackle.
“We really appreciate the support from all of the businesses who gave to this so willingly,” Smith said. “Their support turned a little UM program into something grand.”
For certain, the results of the food drive will fatten the food bank's shelves and begin feeding hungry Missoula residents on Monday.
“This is wonderful because it will bridge the gap between what is our usually lean season of late summer-early fall and the holiday food drive, which fills our warehouse and helps with the coming year,” Brock said.
It's never too late to lend a hand or give a donation, Brock said.
The food bank has its own food drive under way called “Let's Talk Turkey,” which hands out frozen turkeys in the days before Thanksgiving.
Last year, 800 frozen birds were distributed, and Brock believes this year the program will be even busier.
People can donate cash to help the food bank purchase turkeys, or they can buy a frozen turkey and drop it off at the distribution center on South Third Street West.
“One in eight people who call this community home come through our doors,” Brock said. “These are folks next to you on church on Sunday. These are your neighbors.”
“Most of them come one time, and one time only, and the reasons that bring them here are usually because of a financial crisis,” he said.
“They are usually working families who are making it on their own, but then something happens - a car breaks down, someone gets sick and their budget breaks. Then they need extra help to get through the month, and when they get the help, the next month's budget holds and the family can hold their own again.”
Donations needed
The Missoula Food Bank could always use more food, and more volunteers to help the emergency food distributor feed Missoula's hungry, bring immediate relief to struggling families and reduce the incidence of hunger.
The food bank is located at 219 S. Third Street W., across from Bernice's Bakery.
Food is distributed Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Monday and Tuesday evenings, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
To find out more about the agency or to volunteer, call 549-0543.
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