Ceremony marks opening of new veterans center, food pantry

With the raising of the flag, singing of the National Anthem and a few tears, the Northwest Montana Veterans Stand Down and Food Pantry inaugurated its new location Monday.

Located in an 11,098-square-foot building on U.S. 2 next to Burger King in Evergreen, the facility valued at about $1 million was purchased for the veterans by an anonymous benefactor in late 2009.

“I can’t tell you who it was because I don’t know,” pantry founder Allen Erickson said. “This is a dream for an old guy like me to help the vets. We’re getting three new families a week.”

The grand opening ceremony Monday featured a flag raising by Kalispell VFW Post 2252 assisted by veterans Keith Heavyrunner and Walter Runningcrane of the Blackfeet Nation. Norm DeForrest led the singing of the National Anthem.

Virginia Sloan, an aide to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., read a letter from the senator, who toured the new center on Saturday. In the letter, Tester said that veterans in rural areas generally don’t live as long as those in urban areas that have more services.

“Thanks to Allen and Linda [Erickson], that’s changing,” Tester said in the letter.

Allen Erickson thanked the many volunteers and donors who helped renovate the building, then move the operation to the new location during the first week in April. He said the larger building is helping the organization serve more veterans than ever.

“We’re veterans helping veterans in our community,” he said. “That’s what we do best.”

Allen and Linda’s daughters Ginger Davis and Cinnamon Hall and other volunteers surprised them with a plaque lauding their vision, dedication and commitment to serving Northwest Montana veterans.

Davis said that she provided the impetus for the founding of the center when she suggested that her dad needed a hobby when he no longer could work.

She laughed as she said that she was thinking along the lines of building a ship in a bottle. Davis said her dad got started with a 4-foot-by-4-foot box of potatoes that he delivered to homeless veterans living in the woods. Davis said it has gone from that ship-in-a-bottle idea to a box of potatoes to the newly remodeled building.

Linda Erickson acknowledged the nonprofit’s board of directors for their work on the new location.

“It’s all been a group effort with everyone helping,” she said.

Before the ceremony, she provided a tour of the ground floor where veteran services are located. Erickson said the organization has a proposal pending to lease the 3,400 square-feet second floor to a new center for combat veterans.

Renovations added a 28- by 46-foot food pantry to the building and an elevator and a handicapped accessible restroom on the second floor. Flathead Electric provided a $10,000 grant and a donor provided another $10,000 to help pay for the elevator.

The ground floor was partitioned to provide a reception area, offices and an area for clothing and furnishing donations.

“I actually have an office with a door,” Linda Erickson said. “I don’t have to work outside in tents any more.”

She said the layout provides a much better flow of services. A computer station gives veterans who are homeless and/or unemployed access to check on job openings, create resumes or check out Veterans Affairs sites on the Internet.

A board room serves a number of needs including space for classes and workshops on skills such as budgeting or nutrition. Another area has facilities for the homeless to shower or do their laundry.

Erickson said Valley Chiropractic held a fundraiser for the washer and dryer obtained at a discount from Vann’s Audio Video & Appliances. Stacia Moore of Moore Hearing donated the money to create Allen Erickson’s spacious corner office.

“It’s just so awesome to have so much space,” Linda Erickson said.

The new facilities nearly quadrupled the space. It expanded a few parking spaces to 48.

She credited volunteer Kerry Finley with adding many decorator touches to the interior. Erickson said the atmosphere helps attract volunteers at a time of great need with the drawn-out recession bringing more veterans’ families in the door for help.

“We’ve got a lot more families running out of everything,” she said. “They’ve gone through their life savings, their unemployment and they’re desperate.”

Erickson said the food pantry still needs food donations such as staples and prepared meals that fit in a backpack. The organization also hopes to receive cash donations to help retire a loan of $92,000 that paid for renovations.

Lynn Ogle, a member of the board of directors, said that businesses had been very generous in helping the project. He said Allen Erickson picked the right word when he called the new facility a dream.

Ogle, a Vietnam veteran, started working with the pantry when it first opened in 2000.

“It’s been a labor of love for all the people who volunteer time and energy,” he said.

A wide range of groups came to celebrate with the Northwest Montana Veterans Stand Down and Food Pantry including VFW members from Libby and a wide range of community and veteran groups.

Lt. Col. Mark Boettcher of the Montana National Guard called the facility awesome.

“Our veterans truly need this kind of help,” he said. “A lot of them fall through the cracks.”