Friday, December 12, 2008
Montana Food Bank Network
to Receive $250,000 Funding Boost
Governor Brian Schweitzer and the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) announced today the Montana Food Bank Network will receive a check for $250,000 to help stock the shelves of food banks across Montana this holiday season.
“Considering the difficult economic times facing our country, I’m grateful our state is in a position to provide hunger relief assistance in Montana,” Governor Schweitzer said. “Now more than ever Montanans are turning to food banks for help.”
The funding source stems from U.S. Department of Agriculture bonus awards the DPHHS Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has received over the past several years for the state’s accuracy and timeliness in processing SNAP applications, said DPHHS Human and Community Services Division administrator Hank Hudson.
“This wonderful announcement was made possible through the dedicated efforts of local public assistance eligibility workers in the field who earned these bonus awards for our state,” Hudson said. “I also applaud Governor Schweitzer for recognizing the need for this type of assistance to those who desperately need it.”
Hudson also noted while the Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) will facilitate the distribution of food, all state food banks are eligible to receive food from this distribution even if they are not a member of the MFBN, such as the Billings Food Bank. “A percentage of the food will be set for the Billings Food Bank and delivered directly to them,” Hudson explained. “In addition, contact will be made with smaller pantries who do not normally receive deliveries from the Montana Food Bank Network to invite them to share some of the food.”
Most recently, the Montana SNAP received a $238,990 bonus award in October from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and in 2006 the state received a check for a $1.8 million bonus award. SNAP is the new name for the Food Stamp Program. The program’s name changed on October 1, 2008.
According to Hudson, not all of the bonus award money the state has received over the past couple years has been allocated and the decision was made to assist the MFBN based on current data.
According to MFBN executive director Peggy Grimes, network members are reporting a 20 percent increase in the number of new households needing food this year over last year and a 26 percent increase in the number of food boxes provided.
“We are thankful for this help and look forward to providing more food to the growing number of Montana households seeking emergency food assistance,” Grimes said.
Grimes said the funding is enough to purchase about 360,000 pounds of food that will be distributed to food banks over the next approximately six months.
The MFBN is a private nonprofit organization that solicits, gleans, sorts, repackages, warehouses and transports donated food and distributes it to charitable programs that directly serve needy families, children and seniors.
The organization delivers food to remote communities and on American Indian reservations that often rely on this service to provide 100 percent of the food they distribute. In addition to providing food, MFBN offers partnering agencies ongoing support, services and education by providing them with a variety of tools to help strengthen their programs.
For more information call Hudson at 406-444-5901.
Food banks interested in receiving some of this food are encouraged to call Grimes at 1-406-721-3825 or 1-800-809-4752.
