Food bank dishes up help for the hungry

The soup's on for the Flathead Food Bank's 11th annual Soup Supper.

This year's supper will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 10, at Northridge Lutheran Church, 323 Northridge Drive, in Kalispell. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased now at the Kalispell pantry, 105 Sixth Ave. W. Tickets include your choice of a one-of-kind pottery bowl crafted by local artists, all-you-can-eat soup, bread, dessert, and a chance to win one of the door prizes.

Although food donations hit a high mark during the holidays, the community's needs never ebb. Robin Layton, director of the Flathead Food Bank, reports that the pantries' needs continue to grow.

Last year, the total number of food boxes distributed by all five local pantries was 12, 249, which served 2,661 families.

Layton says that though the food bank serves people and families who are living at as much as 150 percent of the federal poverty level, the majority of its clients are well below that figure. According to the Montana Food Bank Network Web site, nearly 40 percent of people living in poverty have jobs but still do not earn enough to provide food for their families; furthermore, nearly half of the people who receive emergency food are children.

Across the country, food banks are seeing a reduction in federal assistance. Most recently, the federal Senior Commodity Program was cut by 10 percent with little warning. Here in Flathead County, that program provides food for 300 seniors. The Flathead Food Bank has had to fill the gap out-of-pocket to continue the program for those seniors while also meeting the needs of 20 more seniors on a waiting list. And other federal budget cuts are on the table.

When you think about the 587,834 pounds of food put in the hands of your Flathead neighbors last year, it may sound like a lot, yet our pantry is struggling. The Flathead Food Bank relies on at least 22 percent of its funding from private residents.

For more information about the soup supper fundraiser or to purchase tickets, call the pantry at 752-3663.

The Town Pump is one business that has stepped up statewide to give to Montana food banks. Its fourth annual "Be a Friend in Deed, Helping Those in Need," campaign raised $650,000 last fall in money collected at the company's food stores, inns, restaurants and casinos, and included a $150,000 donation from the Town Pump Charitable Foundation itself.

Montanans gave generously. The campaign raised $275,000 more than last year, nearly doubling the previous three-year total of $750,000 and bringing the four-year total to $1.4 million for Montana food banks - the Flathead Food Bank received more than $32,000. The Town Pump fundraiser is one of the main funding sources on which the Flathead facility relies.

"The company will continue its partnership with community food banks across Montana to raise awareness of hunger issues and raise funds," stated Maureen Keneally, spokeswoman for the Town Pump. The cash donations keep the pantries doors open by helping them pay rent and utilities, as well as allowing them to buy fresh food.