As the cost of fuel, housing, health care and child care rise many Montanans are faced with the tough choice of buying food or paying basic living expenses.
In 2008, the Montana Food Bank Network distributed over 4.5 million pounds of food, from Libby to Lame Deer, Wolf Point to Darby. Last year, MFBN stocked the shelves of 189 soup kitchens, senior centers, day care centers, group homes and community food pantries who feed more than 9% of our state’s population.
With the support of many generous donors, the Montana Food Bank Network sees to it that school children board the school bus every Friday afternoon with nutritious food for the weekend; hundreds of seniors have soup, pasta, vegetables and canned fruit to fill their barren cupboards and thousands of minimum wage workers who couldn’t afford to feed their families receive free food.
Due to this dramatic increase in demand for emergency food, the Montana Food Bank Network has outgrown the warehouse we purchased in 1996. Due to our limited storage capacity, especially freezer and refrigerated space, we were forced to expand and renovate our current facilities to keep up with this demand.