Helping hungry kids, one backpack meal at a time

Polson Loaves and Fish Food Pantry recently received $12,000 from the Town Pump Charitable Foundation to fund its “Meals for Backpacks” program, while the Ronan Bread Basket received $10,000.

The foundation awarded 91 grants totaling $725,000 for organizations around the state to help schools, food banks, and service organizations that provide weekend meal programs for Montana school children. Most weekend offerings include enough for two breakfasts, two lunches, and snacks to replace the meals children would receive at school.

At Polson Loaves and Fish, director Mary Martin held up a bag full of kid-friendly food, including mac and cheese, boxed cereal, juice, milk, shelf-stable yogurt, pasta and a miniature can of sauce. Her crew embellishes the offerings too, adding granola bars, miniature cans of chicken-noodle soup and other favorites. When school resumes in the New Year, kids will also find a toothbrush in their stash.

The pantry distributes about 90 bags each week that school is in session to Cherry Valley, Linderman and the Polson Middle School. According to Martin school counselors decide who might benefit from the nutritional boost.

“It has been such a rewarding program for us and the students in need,” said Debbie Chapman, treasurer and a board member for Loaves and Fish. “We would not be able to do this without the help of the Town Pump.

The bags, which are distributed through the schools and are ordered each month through the Montana Food Bank Network, cost about $6.33 each (prior to the additions local food banks make). According to Chapman, the program has taken several years to evolve, in tandem with counselors, teachers, janitors and bus drivers, as they discovered which foods were discarded and replaced those with something more appetizing.

The Ronan Bread Basket goes through a similar process.

According to Leah Emerson, who chairs the Bread Basket board, counselors in the Ronan, Pablo and Charlo grade schools identify kids who might be “food insecure on the weekends, and then discreetly provide pre-packaged food items to go home with the students in their backpacks.”

The middle and high schools are equipped with pantries that are accessed through school counselors, enabling older students to choose items that best serve their tastes and needs.

Emerson recalls a conversation she had with the School District 30 food service director, who revealed that 95% of students in the district qualified for reduced or no-cost school meals.

“This illustrated a serious issue with food insecurity among our youth,” said Emerson. She estimates that 250 to 300 weekend meals are sent home each month with Ronan, Pablo and Charlo students.

“It's difficult to imagine a more important effort than supporting children and adolescents and making sure none go hungry,” she added.

Bill McGladdery, director of corporate communications for Town Pump, agrees.

“Too often children in Montana go hungry over the weekend,” he said. “The Meals for Backpacks program provides them healthy meals when they are away from school, so they show up on Monday morning healthy and ready to learn.”

Polson pantry stocks up for holidays

In addition to kids, families also benefit from the local food banks.

Last Thursday, Loaves and Fish was a hive of helpers who were busy stocking shelves and filling grocery bags and boxes with extras for the holidays. According to Martin, nearly 60 volunteers help the food bank meet its mission to alleviate hunger.

Martin said the previous week’s community food drive, organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, brought in 8,400 pounds of food, plus an additional 1,000 pounds that were left at Super One. Polson High students even took time out of study hall to help stock shelves with the deluge.

In addition, Martin said the food bank sent empty bags to local churches requesting holiday staples such as evaporated milk and pumpkin-pie filling.

“We got 1,200 pounds of those specific things,” she said.

Martin says the pantry helps out between 325 and 350 families each month, and always sees a surge in clients prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Clearly, hunger is an issue. According to the Montana Food Bank Network, an estimated 4,360 people in Lake County were considered food insecure in 2022, or close to 14% of the population.

Loaves and Fish is like a small grocery store, with shelves of canned goods and bread, coolers with fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy products, and a freezer case with a variety of meat. Families can load up once a month and are allocated a certain amount of food based on family size.

In addition, the pantry’s “Bread and Milk Room” is open twice a week and stocks a much smaller selection of basics.

Because the Polson food bank is the largest in Lake County, with several walk-in freezers and refrigerated units, and collects food from three grocery stores, they also help supply pantries in Ronan, St. Ignatius and even Hot Springs.

Grants from charitable organizations, including the Greater Polson Community Foundation and the Lower Flathead Community Foundation, as well as major statewide donors such as Town Pump and the Dennis Washington Foundation, help keep the shelves stocked.

All of the local grocery stores contribute food – including Starbucks – and area farmers deliver extra meat and produce during the growing season. The federal government is also a partner, sending “farmer overage” to the Montana Food Bank Network, the parent organization that then redistributes those goods to local pantries.

“Sometimes you get some very interesting things from them,” says Martin. For example, “we got cases and cases and cases and cases of garbanzo beans – it just kept coming and coming. I finally had to say, I’m sorry, don’t send us anymore.”

Local businesses and plenty of private donors pitch in too.

“It’s amazing,” says Martin. “This town, this little bitty town, is so good. And so giving.”

To donate or volunteer, visit Loaves and Fish, 904 1st St. E in Polson (406-883-6864 or www.polsonpantry.com); Ronan Bread Basket at 6th Ave. SW in Ronan (406- 676-4357 or ronanbreadbasket.org), or the Mission Valley Food Pantry, on Blaine St. in St. Ignatius (406-745-5484 or mfbn.org/resource/mission-valley-food-pantry).

    Paul and Sandi Fors were organized canned goods at Polson Loaves and Fish before filling Christmas bags and boxes with extra goodies for the holidays. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)
  

    Pre-Christmas bounty at Polson's Loaves and Fish, where families in need were able to restock their cupboards before Christmas. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)