We started our food pantry in December 2021 with just 75 pounds of food that was left over from a High School Food Drive for Veterans. That food started on three shelves in the back of my husband’s Small Engine Repair shop. As the mission grew, much faster than any of thought it would, that small amount of food made its way to the front of his building occupying a couple much larger shelving units donated by a local grocery store. Since March of 2022, this vision has expanded which led ... Read More
We started our food pantry in December 2021 with just 75 pounds of food that was left over from a High School Food Drive for Veterans. That food started on three shelves in the back of my husband’s Small Engine Repair shop. As the mission grew, much faster than any of thought it would, that small amount of food made its way to the front of his building occupying a couple much larger shelving units donated by a local grocery store. Since March of 2022, this vision has expanded which led Jay, the founder and my husband, to retire from his Small Engine Business and the pantry took over the space. We have also expanded the scope of what we hope to accomplish. The original plan was to just take care of our Tri-County area – Powell, Deer Lodge and Granite counties. However, within 6 months of opening, we realized there was a much larger area that could benefit from our services. We decided to expand our reach to all of Southwest Montana.
We offer Veterans and their families an opportunity to shop at our pantry once a month, which helps provide them with the staples they can use on a much more regular basis. We have also opened the Pantry for weekly shops that include more perishable items. We also offer rides to doctor appointments for the Veterans and their spouses at no cost. We found that most other transportation options aren’t open to the Spouse going as well. We have a Certified Behavioral Peer Support Specialist involved with our organization that read helps our Veterans if they need someone to talk to or counsel with. We have created a “Safe Place” for Veterans to bring in any item they feel they could use to harm themselves with. We do not file any reports, we just store the items until the Veteran feels they are at a place to take them back into their possession. We do our best to connect our Veterans to any other programs they may need by looking at the network we have created within the military/VA community and pointing them going in the right direction.
We plan to add a Thrift Store to our facility to help provide ongoing capital to our pantry.
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