Food Bank Campaign Featured in Bozeman Daily Chronicle

OCTOBER 19, 2021 - Article by Juliana Sukut, Bozeman Chronicle Business and Health Reporter. VIEW ORIGINAL

When the Gallatin Valley Food Bank opened in 1982 it served about 500 households for the entire year. Now, the food bank serves about 1,200 households every month, said Jill Holder, the food and nutrition director with the Human Resource Development Council, the nonprofit organization that runs the food bank.

Operating the increasingly busy food bank — from keeping lights and appliances on to fueling its vans or paying staff — is expensive and much of the budget relies on donations from Bozemanites.

So, it’s a big deal for the food bank when an organization promises to match community donations for several months, Holder said.

Through Nov. 30, any monetary donations made to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank will be matched by the Town Pump Charitable Foundation, as part of its “Be A Friend in Deed, Helping Those in Need” campaign. The foundation is matching up to $40,000 in donations to the food bank.

Donations can be made directly to the food bank, at any Town Pump or its subsidiary casinos: Lucky Lil’s, Montana Lil’s or Magic Diamond.

In 2020, the Town Pump Charitable Foundation matched $35,000 in donations to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank while Bozeman Town Pump customers, who could donate $1 with every purchase, raised about $51,000, Holder said.

“It’s our single largest donation every year,” Holder said.

Holder said the money from the fundraiser makes up a “sizable chunk” in covering GVFB’s yearly costs, and said the majority of the money goes to operational costs.

“It keeps the freezers and coolers running, it’s paid the staff and keeps gas in the food rescue rig,” she said.

In addition to Town Pump’s fundraiser, the food bank will hold the Can the Griz food drive from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20, the annual friendly competition with Missoula to donate more pounds of food to local food banks.

In 2020, the Griz won, collecting more than 250,000 pounds of food than the Cats.

“It’ll give us some leverage to say: ‘if you make a donation, Town Pump will match this amount and you’ll help us Can the Griz,’” Holder joked.

With Gallatin County’s rapid growth and the ongoing pandemic, the need for food resources has been greater than ever, she said.

During last fiscal year — July 2020 to June 2021 — the food bank distributed nearly 16,000 food boxes.

During 2019 to 2020, the food bank distributed just shy of 14,000 boxes, according to its annual report.

This year, the food bank has also been seeing about 80 to 120 new families using its services each month.

“For me it’s comforting that our community believes in the food bank and in helping people, are are willing to back it up,” Holder said.

Town Pump will also match $12,500 to the Headwaters Area Food Bank in Three Forks; $3,000 to the Big Sky Community Food Bank and $17,500 for the Livingston Food Resource Center, said Bill McGladdery, a Town Pump spokesperson.

In its 20th year, the campaign has raised over $40 million for food banks across the state, including about $8 million in match grants from Town Pump’s charitable arm.

Town Pump will also be raising money by asking its customers for $1 donations or round up to the nearest dollar through the end of November.

“We believe in meeting the basic needs of our Montana neighbors. Certainly, supporting these food banks to provide nourishing meals to our neighbors is very important,” McGladdery said.