Giving season

Tis the season of giving — and the North Valley Food Bank hopes to provide 200 holiday meals to families who are in-need this Christmas.

SueAnn Grogan King, executive director of the food bank, said they’re already ramping up their efforts to get holiday meals arranged and ready to go out to people next Thursday.

Over Thanksgiving, the food bank was able to bring food to 192 families, and Grogan King said she expects to serve about 200 families for the winter holidays.

“I know as a parent when Christmas time comes you have to put food on the table and something on the tree, and it stresses that household budget,” she said.

The food bank has been running for nearly four decades now in Whitefish. With about 80 regular volunteers working four hours a week, the building sees the constant coming and going of volunteers, food donations and recipients.

Unlike the Flathead Food Bank, which places a limit on the number of times someone can use the service, Whitefish’s food bank is always open for anyone who needs it, Grogan King said.

“Here in Whitefish we don’t have a limit. It’s once a week if you’d like to come,” she said.

Likewise, Grogan King said out of every 1,000 pounds of food they bring in, roughly about 10 pounds or less of that will get thrown out because it’s unusable.

The food bank is in the process of rounding up meal items for Christmas.

Donations have already been set out from a few places around town — hams from Super 1, local fresh produce and turkey, stuffing and gravy from Safeway top the list. For the kids, Grogan King said she likes to try to throw in something fun as well.

“We try to do some special things in the bag, especially knowing that the kids will be home all Christmas. So we’ll increase our milk, cereal, granola bars — things that a kid would eat at home,” she said.

For those willing to help, Grogan King said the food bank is open to both monetary and food donations.

The most helpful items to donate are baby food, special protein drinks like Ensure for people with special diets and gift cards for local grocery stores, she said.

What matters most is that those who want to help are able to.

And that’s what Christmas is all about, she said.

“Working with volunteers is incredibly rewarding. This time of year, when we’re celebrating Christmas and we’re talking about this baby born in a manger, and what were also talking about is the need to share with each other and look out for each other, and that’s what I think the story is about,” she said. “So it’s a real positive time here in the food bank even though we’re dealing with some difficult situations in some folks lives.”

For more information on the food bank, visit http://www.northvalleyfoodbank.org/