Montana food banks meet higher demand

HELENA – Montana food banks reported a much higher demand for services in 2009, as the recession continued.

“The economy is the crux of this whole problem because hunger is always related to family income,” said Minkie Medora, chair of the Food Security Council for the Montana Food Bank Network. “We have more and more people living on the financial edge. They just don’t have any financial buffers.”

The Montana Food Bank Network and its 189 affiliated emergency food programs estimate they distributed 12.1 million pounds of food in 2009, an increase of 19 percent from the 10.2 million pounds of food they distributed in 2008, said executive director Peggy Grimes.

“We have really stepped up to provide so much more food,” said Grimes. “All over the state, people are losing jobs and it is impacting the pantries.”

Food pantries distribute food directly to individuals while food banks distribute large volumes of food to the pantries and emergency food providers.

Kate Bradford, director of public policy for the Food Bank Network, said a record 102,800 Montanans signed up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps.

Still, Medora said, Montanans aren’t taking full advantage of government food programs.

“It’s not for a lack of effort by the state,” she said. “Lots of people still don’t know about it. They don’t think they’re eligible or they don’t want to participate.”

Grimes said people are working to start more “backpack programs,” in which schoolchildren are given two meals a day in pop-top cans, including a snack, in a backpack so they can have food over weekends or holidays. Arlee, Billings, Helena, Missoula and Victor have such programs, but only during the school year.

“We’re not going to stop looking for those long-term solutions,” Grimes said. “We need to get people to the other side where they’re able to provide for their own food needs.”