Food drive nets 1,586 pounds

By LAURA BEHENNA

Bigfork Eagle

The Bigfork Food Pantry has received 1,586 pounds of food, thanks to the annual U.S. Post Office Letter Carrier’s Food Drive, Flathead Food Bank executive director Lori Botkin said.

All together, the Flathead Food Bank’s five pantries in Kalispell, Bigfork, Evergreen, Marion and Martin City collected 12,100 pounds of food as a result of the drive, Botkin said.

Donations typically drop off dramatically in the summer, she added. This results in the food bank’s having to purchase many products from local grocers.

Even with almost 1,600 pounds of donated food, Bigfork’s allotment is 200 pounds less than last year’s, Botkin said. Bigfork Food Pantry director Sue Stuber said she wasn’t sure why the amount is down this year. She expressed gratitude for the generosity of those who contribute to the pantry, however.

The pantry accepts donations any time of the year, not just during food drives. Almost any kind of food is welcome with few exceptions, Stuber said. Food packages that are opened or past their “sell by” date cannot be used, nor can home-canned goods because of the small risk of bacterial contamination.

Fresh produce from home gardens and orchards is welcome if it is brought to the food pantry soon after harvesting and on days the pantry is open, Stuber said. This is because the pantry has no cold storage to keep produce fresh.

The Bigfork Food Pantry serves about 22 families during the spring and summer months and about 50 during the winter off-season, Stuber said. A few come from Somers and the majority live in or near Bigfork and Ferndale, she said. The pantry serves any size of family that means the income guidelines.

“A lot of our households are the elderly people and single disabled people,” she said. “I don’t know how a lot of these people live on Social Security. I’m thankful for the opportunity they have to come in to us.”

The food pantry used to give out food boxes with prescribed contents, but that practice has shifted toward giving people choices about what foods they will enjoy eating, Stuber said.

“It’s so nice to be able to say, ‘Would you like this today?,’ and I know our clients are very grateful,” she said.

Stuber estimated that 70 to 80 percent of donations come from the Bigfork community. Government commodity food contributions are way down from what they were in earlier years, she added.

“I can’t tell you how supportive this community is,” she said. Eleven local churches take turns sending volunteers to work at the pantry each month, and schoolchildren also volunteer occasionally. The Bigfork School did one of the most productive food drives the pantry has ever had, Stuber added.

The Bigfork Food Pantry is open the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pantry can be reached any time at 837-2297 or 837-0360.