The Dawson County Foodbank is a 501c3 organization with a board consisting of 9 members, 1 Executive director in a paid position, and 7 volunteers. Everyone works hard to make the food bank run as smoothly as it does, in fact, Dawson County Food Bank is rated #1 in the Montana Food Network, a fact we did not know and are now very proud to know.
The volunteer core of the food bank is always looking for more people willing to work a few hours here and there, we are all humans and some of the volunteers need time off or get sick. With the store open from 10 am to 1 pm, and pickup times for local goods happening before the store opens it only takes a few hours out of a day to help. It was also a joy to discover that some of our local students volunteer their time to unload the Montana Food Network truck that comes to deliver purchased bulk goods for the Food Bank.
The food bank’s main source of monetary income is from donations. Many fundraisers are done on their behalf or private donations from all over Dawson County, including the Richey community, come in to help pay for operating costs, rent, maintenance, and payroll for the single employee. The food bank’s stock comes from, local food drives, donations from the many churches, farmers, hunters, local businesses, and from private individuals. Other donations have come in the form of equipment or in the form of transportation such as the van they received and use to pick up food donations from local businesses. Any donation the food bank receives can also be counted as tax-deductible.
All of this goes to serve on average around 170-180 households a month. Some of these clients are a onetime stop while they are on hard times either due to a smaller paycheck or being between jobs. Others seek help due to domestic issues and need help while restarting their life. Be it illness, changes in your career, domestic issues, changes while on a fixed income, loss of a family member, or just need that help. The Dawson County Food Bank has a philosophy that each and every person that comes in is important, as one of their previous directors put it, “We treat them like they have the gold card while shopping at Macey’s.”
Not all needs are food and that is one thing we are proud to know our Food Bank has tackled. Sometimes lack of funds not only means no food but possibly no toiletries, feminine products, not being able to decorate for a child’s birthday party and being unable to feed your pets. Broken bags or donated food from a picky dog or cat are more than welcome. Local youth groups, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts spend time bagging items together for the birthday bags.
In a perfect world, there would be no need for a Food Bank but we are lucky and glad to have such a hard-working and dedicated core of people running the organization. Some of the things they would dream of having at their disposal are more storage space and a walk-in cooler and or freezer.
This Blog was written by, Denny Malone Glendive Broadcasting’s Sales Rep.
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