North Valley Food Bank food drive surpasses goal by 1,000 pounds

The North Valley Food Bank wrapped up its Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat! food drive last week. Generous residents of Whitefish donated over 5,000 pounds of healthy, kid-friendly food, surpassing the food drive’s goal by 1,000 pounds. North Valley Food Bank will distribute this food to families in its regular drive-thru distributions in Whitefish and in its mobile pantries in Evergreen, Essex, Olney and Trego.

New ways to target distributions to kids at risk are being discussed at the food bank. The Whitefish businesses that hosted donation tubs during the food drive participated in a friendly competition to see who could collect the most food (by weight) and who could best decorate the metal donation bins provided by the food bank.

Students from Whitefish High School, Whitefish Middle School and Whitefish Christian Academy judged unlabeled photos of the bins to declare the winner of “Best Decorated.” The students picked the Imagination Station’s hungry frog bin to be the winner.

The first runner-up in this category was Kintla Copy & Creative’s monster bin.

Bookworks won the prize for collecting the most food by weight, having collected 270 pounds. Fleur Bake Shop collected 169 pounds and Buffalo Cafe collected 147 pounds to take second and third place, respectively.

Thanks to sponsors Glacier Bank and Whitefish Credit Union, North Valley Food Bank will be able to distribute gift certificates to Bookworks and Imagination Station to the food bank’s volunteers who emptied donation tubs and weighed and organized the food. North Valley Food Bank is grateful to the sponsors, volunteers, business owners and everyone who donated.