Bigfork Food Pantry remains strong thanks to community

Bigfork Eagle

In a time when other food banks around the Flathead Valley are struggling to keep up with the growing demands of families who are being hit by the economic decline, the Bigfork Food Pantry continues to stay the course with help from the community it serves.

In fact, the list of groups and organizations who support the Bigfork Food Pantry is extensive. No less than 11 local churches and 23 local businesses or community groups lend their support to the food pantry on a regular basis.

"I have a list of the different organizations that support the Bigfork pantry throughout the year," pantry manager Sue Stuber said. "We pick up bread from Harvest Foods twice a week, from Grateful Bread once a week, from Great Northern Foods four or five times a year, and Brookie's Cookies also gives us regular donations. It's a lot. A lot of the food that clients pick up, whenever the food bank is open, comes directly from four or five main businesses, right here in Bigfork."

Of course, the pantry also benefits greatly from the multiple food drives that take place throughout the year. The biggest of these is the Bigfork High School food drive. Last year, high school students brought in close to 7,000 lbs. of food during their annual drive.

"I'm anxious to see what they do this year, because they definitely outdid themselves last year," Stuber said. That truly is the biggest food drive that we have all year long."

Stuber added that the food pantry could not operate without the support it receives from local churches, whose congregations support the pantry on a monthly basis. Their contributions consist of everything from food donations to monetary donations. Altogether, local congregations donated more than 12,000 lbs. of food, last year.

But that's not all. The local churches rotate from week to week to provide volunteers who fill food baskets and perform other tasks vital to keeping the pantry's doors open.

"We rely heavily on donations from the local churches," Stuber said. "If it weren't for the churches here in Bigfork, we probably would not have a pantry. We send out an e-mail and let everyone know what our current needs are, and a lot of the time those needs are met through the local churches."

Considering the number of individuals and families served by the Bigfork pantry, those needs are as extensive as the list of organizations who help to meet them.

Last year, the food pantry served 338 individuals and 118 households. That included 45 children ages five and under and another 75 children ages 6-17. The number also included 179 adults ages 18-54 and 39 seniors age 55 and older.

Meeting the needs of those individuals and families required assistance in the form of 36,276 lbs. of food, which was distributed by the Bigfork pantry.

"As far as the need, we see that we are getting new clients every week that we are open," Stuber said. "Our numbers are usually the lowest during the summer, because of the job situation. This summer, we were at our highest ever."

Although the needs are still being met, Stuber conceded that food donations had declined over the last four months. Even the realtor's fall food drive, which is usually a greatly needed shot in the arm for the pantry, has taken a hit, bringing in just 754 lbs of food. That's down 700 lbs from last year and even more overall.

Stuber expressed her gratefulness for the continuing efforts of local real estate offices and agents who come together every year and help boost the food bank's inventory at the onset of the fall and into the holiday season.

"We get very, very busy in November and December," Stuber said. "We have both Thanksgiving and Christmas distributions, and we have clients that we don't normally see during the rest of the year, or we might only see them once or twice a year. We see those people a lot more during the holiday season."

For that reason, and owing to the growing financial stress being felt by area residents coping with an increasingly unstable economy, local realtors have decided to extend their efforts this year and let the community know that they will continue to be active in collecting food for the food bank throughout the fall and winter months.

"Basically, every year, area-wide we help participate with the food drive," Bill Leinger of Dean and Leininger Real Estate said. "Bigfork is a little bit more difficult than Kalispell or Whitefish, because we're not so centrally located. We try to let the community know about the food drive through advertising and direct communication with our clients, and we did have folks who went out and canvassed part of Bigfork.

"We usually try to give out bags for people to put their food donations in and leave those with us. This year, we're going to contact homeowners who might be heading south for the winter, that they can contact us if they have food to donate, and we'll come and pick that up form their house. We want to continue to support the food bank and of course the community. We know that there are a lot of people who are having a hard time this year making ends meet, and if there is anything that we can do to help out, we're tickled to do it."

Leininger stressed the hard work of local realtors who put in many hours collecting for the food bank and extended his own appreciation to his many colleagues and associates in various offices around Bigfork, whose dedication continue to drive the effort for a successful drive.

"This is our first year doing it this way," Leininger said. "The food bank is always in need, and we want to keep those shelves stocked. As we go, we're learning how to better communicate with the Bigfork community and clientele."

Stuber added that, while much of the food donations were down in previous months, especially those dropped off by individuals, monetary donations have continued to come in, which has allowed the pantry to purchase commodities and fill the void left by cutbacks in the federal commodities they used to receive.

She wished to extend her thanks to the following businesses and community groups for their ongoing support: Great Northern Foods, Ferndale Sewing Circle, Bigfork Lodge, Bigfork High School and Middle School, Swan River Elementary School, Bigfork Sundowners, Electric Avenue Gifts, Bigfork Library, B98 Fall Harvest, Bigfork Lady Lions, Rebecca Lodge, Weight Watchers, Western Insurance, Bigfork Chamber of Commerce, Bigfork Seniors Bridge Club, Bigfork Ladies Bowling Teams, Bear Dance Club, Bigfork East Shore Lions, Swan River Homemakers and Yellow Bay Community Club, as well as the Bigfork Post Office, local real estate offices and area churches who collect donations for the food pantry.