In a nutshell: Rural pantry delivery program addresses food insecurity

This is the second in a two-part column series on the topic of food insecurity.

North Valley Food Bank’s mission is to build food security and strengthen communities. To do this equitably and reach everyone in need, we started our mobile pantries and rural pantry delivery program. Last month, I shared details about our mobile pantry efforts. In today’s edition of ‘In a Nutshell’, I am highlighting the rural pantry delivery program.

For many years, North Valley Food Bank has shared free rescue food from our local grocery stores with other organizations. During the Covid-19 pandemic, small rural pantries in Lincoln and Glacier County reached out asking for assistance transporting food due to limited cold storage and the refrigerated truck necessary to transport perishable food items safely over long distances. In response, we started our weekly rural pantry delivery program at the beginning of 2021 to deliver “Farmers to Families” produce boxes provided by The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Montana Food Bank Network, produce boxes funded by Hopa Mountain, and rescue food from our local grocery stores. Rescue food is high-quality food that would otherwise be thrown away simply because it does not meet retail standards for appearance or is close to the expiration date.

To ensure our rescue food makes it to the table of someone in need, Lauren Jarrold, our Director of Operations, and Larry Vanmersbergen, our driver, established an efficient strategy for deliveries. Food rescued on weekdays, when we do not host an on-site distribution or mobile pantry, is immediately delivered to and given out by a partner rural pantry. When you see our bright orange truck around town, Larry is likely on his way to one of our partner pantries: FAST Blackfeet in Browning, the Tobacco Valley Food Pantry in Eureka, the Troy Food Pantry, the Libby Food Pantry, or the Yaak Food Cupboard. Each month, our truck travels approximately 4,000 miles! In 2021, Larry delivered 500,000 pounds of food, including almost 150,000 pounds of rescue food through this program.

Many of our partner pantries operate in food deserts, rural locations where a substantial number of community members have no access to a supermarket. In Yaak, for example, the closest grocery store is more than 40 miles away. To make matters worse, in the past two years rural communities faced high rates of unemployment, as well as droughts and agricultural freezes that resulted in the failure of 80% of gardens. Yaak also has a high number of homebound seniors and a school without a lunch program, an initiative that ensures nutritionally balanced free lunches for students. Currently, our partnership is the only option for many rural community members to receive fresh and nutritious food. One tireless pantry volunteer director shared that, “the fresh food delivered to us by North Valley Food Bank makes my stress level go down. I know that at least for a few days after each delivery, people up here, many children, have a full belly before bed.”

All of our partner pantries have been working incredibly hard to support their communities over the past few years. They have built strong volunteer forces and found creative solutions to increase their capacity. Unfortunately, resources in many rural towns are limited. Recovering from the pandemic will likely take a long time, further complicated by inflation and high gas prices. North Valley Food Bank is committed to delivering to our partners while also supporting resource development and finding collaborative pathways to more sustainable solutions to end hunger in Northwest Montana.

Sophie Albert is the executive director of North Valley Food Bank. Albert provides insights into happenings at the food bank, rural food insecurity, stories of the community and more in the monthly Whitefish Pilot column titled, In a Nutshell.