Food bank wraps up Valentine's Day food drive

North Valley Food Bank just wrapped-up its first Valentine’s Day food drive and fundraiser, FEED LOVE, collecting more than 4,800 pounds of comfort food during the 10-day long food drive.

“The FEED LOVE donations helped our winter food distributions enormously for two reasons: the quality of the donations was superior to what we would purchase in bulk, and, the money we saved from purchasing non-perishables enables us to buy our customers more fruits and vegetables for the next few months,” said Lauren Jarrold, North Valley Food Bank’s Director of Operations.

The food bank is serving almost 500 people per week in its weekly drive-thru in Whitefish and an additional 72 households with its mobile pantries to outlying areas in the Northern Flathead Valley.

Friends of the food bank sponsored weekly groceries for 56 families through online donations during the FEED LOVE campaign. The food bank invites the community to continue to sponsor a family’s weekly groceries throughout the year on its website, northvalleyfoodbank.org. A $57 donation feeds a one- to two-person household for a week, $100 donation feeds a three- to four-person household, $114 feeds a five- to six-person household, and $139 feeds a household of more than seven people for the week.

Whitefish’s restaurants, flower shop and chocolate store all came together to host food donation bins and donation jars. The Whitefish Lake Restaurant and Casey’s sponsored the promotional costs for the food drive with generous donations.

MaryBeth Morand, North Valley Food Bank’s Director of Development, says Whitefish High School’s Honor Society made a big impact on the amount of food collected at the grocery stores by handing out flyers as people entered the stores. She notes that food drives and events provide opportunities for everyone in the community to get involved in fighting hunger in our valley.

Friends of the food bank are invited to keep sharing their love by donating online at northvalleyfoodbank.org or at 251 Flathead Avenue, Whitefish, Montana 59937.