‘It makes us feel appreciated’: Community donates hundreds of meals to Helena vaccination crew

HELENA – “Come get a slice. It’s hot!,” said a voice over the radio, prompting excitement among a small group of volunteers in the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds parking lot Thursday evening.

“I love Bullman’s,” one volunteer exclaimed.

Thanks to the generosity of community members, local businesses and churches, this is a common scene at the county’s drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

Since February, about 840 meals have been purchased from local restaurants and donated to the vaccination team through a webpage set up by St. Peter’s Health.

After a staggering amount of inquiries, St. Peter’s Health staff put together an online calendar used to organize the donations of meals to the nurses, support staff and volunteers working at the clinic.

Kathryn Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said it became apparent pretty early on that the community truly wanted to help and they needed to organize those efforts.

Considering the tough year local businesses, especially restaurants, have been through, Gallagher said it is the perfect match.

“It’s a great way to say ‘thank you,’ ” she said.

Those interested in delivering meals to the vaccination clinic workers can sign up for a day and time using the online scheduling tool (https://bit.ly/38Y5Oo8).

Donors can elect to deliver either 20 or 40 meals.

Gallagher said Taco Del Sol has been a popular choice among donors.

The Painted Pot is one business that stepped up to provide 40 meals from Bad Betty’s Barbecue.

“People there were pretty excited when I showed up with all that barbecue,” Painted Pot owner Brianne Harrington said. “We’re just trying to help a fellow business and support those volunteers. They’re the ones who will get us back to normal.”

Donna Greenwood is one of those volunteers. Now retired after a 38-year career teaching public health nursing classes at Carroll College, Greenwood volunteered to help administer doses once she was vaccinated. She said she is thankful to the community.

“It means the community supports public health,” she said. “Now we need to think about how we will support those businesses when things open up.”

Helena resident Julie Peck also donated food from Bullman’s Pizza.

“A friend and I wanted to show our appreciation for the many wonderful volunteers,” Peck said. “We are deeply grateful for their gift of time to help get everyone vaccinated.”

Julia Walsh Kopp has volunteered at the vaccination clinic for about three weeks, directing traffic in the parking lot for three hours at a time, and she said she was “pleasantly surprised” when she discovered people were donating food.

“It’s nice to have so much support behind the process,” Walsh Kopp said. “It makes us feel appreciated, and it gets rid of some of the anxiety we might have signing up for a longer shift.”

While they are of course thankful for the pizza, the staff out at the fairgrounds ask that donated meals consist solely of individually packaged food, as communal meals like pizza pose an unnecessary risk.

A single representative of Salvation Army Helena, which has been providing snacks and coffee for the vaccination crew since the drive-thru clinic’s inception as part of the Elkhorn Community Organizations Active During Disaster, handed out Peck’s pies Thursday evening to mitigate the risk.

But Gallagher said items such as individually wrapped sandwiches or burritos are preferred. Homemade items and potluck-style dishes will not be accepted.

As of March 16, medical staff and volunteers have helped partially vaccinate 16,192 Lewis and Clark County residents, about 29% of the total eligible population. Nearly 12,000 have been fully vaccinated, which amounts to about 21% of the total eligible population.

Vaccinations continue next week with drive-thru clinics scheduled for Tuesday through Friday.

The county hopes to begin vaccinating all county residents over the age of 16 in the first full week of April.