Watch a video report about the Seeley Lake Food Bank crisis.It's a mill town with young families and senior citizens.
It's a remote mountain town with people who live on the margins.
“We had 151 families at the food bank last month,” Kathy Maradeo said last week, as she struggled to stay ahead of an onslaught of new clients. “Our average is 70.”
Volunteers at the tiny food bank located on the backside of Seeley Lake Elementary School gave out 2,500 pounds of food last month.
Their norm is 1,000 pounds.
“I've been working here four or five years, and I've never seen it this bad,” Maradeo said. “And you know what's amazing? It's mostly young people coming in.”
A short while later, a teenage boy walked in and asked if his dad could get a voucher for eggs, milk, margarine and bread.
“No, he can't,” volunteer Marion Brechbill said. “We won't have any vouchers until the food bank has some money again.”
The boy asked Maradeo how old he had to be to get food.
“You have to be 18,” Maradeo said.
“OK, I'm 18,” the boy said.
“No you're not,” Maradeo countered.
“OK, I'm 17,” the boy replied.
“No you're not,” Maradeo said. “But what do you need?”
“Anything?” the boy asked.
“Tell me what you want and I'll make up my mind,” Maradeo said. “How about a marshmallow puff?”
The boy accepted the treat gratefully and left.
It's been like that every Tuesday afternoon going back to January.
“We are broke,” Maradeo said. “We had vouchers so people could get milk, eggs, bread and butter, but we had to cut the vouchers because there is no money to pay for them.”
It's not the increase in clients that bothers the volunteers, who used to have enough time between clients to catch up on what was going on in each other's lives.
What bothers them is who is coming in.
“They are the working poor,” Maradeo said as she holds up someone's application with the monthly wage circled: $1,200.
“See, they work, they make wages, they just can't afford the groceries.”
When a mill in Idaho closed down a while back, Seth Farber had no choice but to move to Seeley Lake and take a job at Pyramid Mountain Lumber Co.
“I started work just recently, moved in about two months ago,” Farber said. “Ain't quite got a full paycheck under my belt yet.”
The two volunteers gathered up a three-day supply of dried potatoes, canned goods and a bit of frozen meat based on the size of the man's family.
Farber said he doesn't use the food bank often, but there are times when it's a big help.
“It takes a lot of pressure off a guy, especially if he's got a teenage son,” he said.
Farber represents a larger group of people in Seeley Lake who might have to use the food bank more often if things don't change soon.
“We have younger families who live here year-round,” food bank board member Cathy Mandler said. “Rent is expensive up here and millworkers took a 10 percent pay cut in April.”
Then there are record gas prices that are keeping people from driving to Missoula for cheaper groceries or to use the food bank there.
Add to that the fact that the mill shut down during the Jocko Lakes fire last summer, that most jobs are part-time and do not include benefits, and it becomes a food crisis.
“These people who work (at the mill) start at $12 an hour.” Mandler said. “You can't live on that. If the wife isn't working or he isn't working a second job, they can't make it.”
Mandler said the food bank has been struggling since January, but saw a huge increase in new - hungry - faces in April.
“We had 57 clients,” Mandler said. “Normally, we have 24 or 25.”
About halfway through the regular Tuesday hours last week, a man poked his head in the door to see if he knew anybody inside.
“Can I help you?” Maradeo said.
Staring at the floor, the man asked if he could apply for food.
“We don't have vouchers, but we can get you some food,” Maradeo told the man.
“No one will know I've been here, right?” the man asked Maradeo, who assured they wouldn't tell anybody.
A few moments later, a woman walked in with two small children.
The man tried to hide his face and busied himself with his application.
Like others, the woman had moved to Seeley Lake for mill work.
As Maradeo put food items from the thinning stock on the shelves into plastic bags, the woman with kids started to talk about deer hunting.
“When can we get tags?” she asked.
No one was quite sure, but Maradeo assured she'd be able to get cheaper tags for eligible members of her family when she becomes a Montana resident.
“If we can get deer tags for everyone, that will help us survive,” the woman told the room.
Maradeo asked the man who'd walked in earlier what kind of meat he'd like.
“Unfortunately, our meat is down,” Maradeo said looking into a cooler only a quarter full of wrapped burger and venison.
“Of all the times to come over,” the man said. “I had to come when my neighbors are here.”
Maradeo assured him it was all right and finished filling the man's bags with food.
And the man turned to his neighbor and said, “Husband on nights?”
“Yes, she replied. “That was supposed to change by now.”
In a normal year, the Seeley Lake Food Bank would be doing fine.
“The Loon and Fish Festival brought in $2,290 and we have another $1,000 grant coming,” Mandler said. “That's just about the same as we did last year.”
But the food bank has spent $7,000 since January.
“And we're only open four hours once a week,” she said.
The board decided to cut vouchers, the most costly part of the food bank's budget in May.
“Yes, it was a hard decision,” Mandler said. “When families have kids, they need the dairy.”
But at $12 for the smallest family voucher, the money ran out quickly.
Now even getting food delivered to Seeley Lake is eating up what budget they have left.
“We have two guys go down to Clearwater Junction, because if they deliver the food to Seeley Lake we pay an extra $46,” Mandler said.
The impact of so many new clients is wearing volunteers thin.
“My husband and I take the first Tuesday of every month, and there were two Tuesdays in the last two months where we stayed until 5 p.m.,” Mandler said. “I'm not going to tell people they can't get food.”
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