COLUMN: Food bank grows to help community

The North Valley Food Bank has been expanding ever since it started in 1977 in June Munski-Feenan’s garage in Whitefish.

As the pantry grew, the inflow of goods outgrew that garage and in 1985 the nonprofit moved into a donated former home that needed moved. Soroptimist International of Whitefish generously allowed the building to be placed on property it owned.

It didn’t take long for the pantry to bust the seams of that 700-square-foot building. Add-on space was created for a walk-in cooler, freezer, office and additional storage.

Just a few years later the food bank was again running out of room. In 2000, with the cooperation of the Soroptimists, it expanded to a city lot right behind their property, nearly doubling its size. That building was further expanded with walk-in coolers for produce and meat.

Staff and volunteers thought those would be the last additions needed; however, the organization raised enough money through a capital campaign — topped off with $500,000 from Whitefish philanthropist Mike Goguen — and in December 2013, for the first time in its nearly 40-year history, the North Valley Food Bank moved into a brand new facility.

So far this year the pantry has distributed more than 40,000 pounds of food and logged more than 3,000 volunteer hours. On average, 600 households receive food each month, while 65 households with children and 40 elderly and disabled households depend on the food bank every week.

The little pantry shepherded by the feisty Munski-Feenan is now at 4,748 square feet — enough room for years to come. Though Munski-Feenan died just one week after the new facility opened, you can imagine the sparkle in her eye the day the doors opened on the pantry’s new headquarters at 251 Flathead Ave., a street now appropriately called June’s Way.

Earlier this summer, Access Fitness in Kalispell hosted a Day in the Park fundraiser for Special Olympics Montana.

More than 200 people came to Lawrence Park for an afternoon of picnicking, face painting, music, dancing and other fun. Area businesses donated thousands of dollars worth of raffle prizes, and at day’s end personal training director Dan Holguin presented a check for $1,857 to the Glacier Area Management Team of Special Olympics Montana. The donation will help local athletes train for both winter and summer games.

Now Access Fitness is hosting a “Burn the Fat, Feed the Flathead” food drive at Lawrence Park in the coming weeks. All food will be donated to the Flathead Food Bank.

Bring two to three cans of food to each of four scheduled boot camps and you can get a great workout from one of the top trainers in the Flathead Valley for free. The boot camps will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. at Lawrence Park on Sept. 19 and 26, and Oct. 3 and 10. For more details, call Tammy Smith at 406-261-0259 or log on to accessfitnesskalispell.com.

Community editor Carol Marino may be reached at 758-4440 or by email at community@dailyinterlake.com.