Hot Springs food pantry sees clients up, donations down

Volunteers at the Hot Springs Food Pantry work hard to connect their clientele with food each month, and somehow they always make it.

“God just answers our prayers, somehow, every month,” Director of Operations Susan Perry said. “It amazes me. Miracles happen every month.”

And while the food pantry is able to make those connections every month thanks to a couple fundraisers and a handful of consistent donations, one annual donation hasn’t arrived for the holidays.

United Way of Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Glacier and Sanders Counties, a chapter of the worldwide social services organization, usually donates between $1,000 and $1,500 to the Hot Springs Food Pantry. But because of the election year, federal funds haven’t been allocated to United Way yet, said Kalispell United Way executive director Sherry Stevens.

“Every four years it happens this way,” Stevens said. “We just don’t know the dollar amount yet. They will be able to apply and there’s no reason why they won’t get the money.”

Stevens said the donation from United Way is meant to be a supplemental income for the food bank, meaning more than they would be able to raise in their own community.

Perry said the delay in that income comes at a time when the food pantry is seeing more families in need than previous years. This year, the food pantry has served about 70 people each month. Last year was worse than 2016, Perry said, but she credits the rise in clientele to a few different factors.

“By January, I think we’re going to have our largest clientele we’ve ever had,” Perry said. “The stress is starting to increase. Everything is just a little bit tighter because we’ve got a bigger clientele now.”

Perry said several families moved to the area this summer to work on farms and others came to work construction. She said the schools saw an increase of 50 students from new families in the area this year, and most of the work that brought their families to the area has dried up.

“They’re not going to have the same jobs and things change,” she said. “It’s so unpredictable, but there is more of a feeling of anxiety going on and a lot of it might have to do with what’s going on in the United States and with our new president. Our country is so divided right now and it’s sad to see.”

While numbers are up, Perry said the food pantry, which is run by about six volunteers, is going to have to turn to new sources to find funding. While the food pantry usually holds about two fundraisers a year, Perry thinks next year the group will have to organize a few more to offset the lost donation. The food pantry will likely have to wait until next year she said, because of how many different services have already reached out to the Hot Springs community for help.

“We were thinking of doing one at the end of the year, but we really can’t,” she said. “This town is fundraiser-burned out.”

Aside from drumming up local support, the Hot Springs Food Pantry gets assistance from the Montana Food Bank Network in Missoula. This is where cash donations are clutch for Perry and the food pantry. She can buy three or four cans of food with a dollar where regular donors can buy just one at their local grocery. And while the organization is still in waiting, the United Way funds will eventually come down the pike.

“Not everyone gets a turkey, but I just want to make sure they get some kind of food to give their family,” Perry said. “I want people’s day-to-day life to be less stressful. If that means giving them an extra can of vegetables, we will.”

Perry said the Hot Springs Food Pantry is still looking for proteins, like tuna and peanut butter for the holidays ahead. Along with food, the organization is always seeking cash donations. For more information, call the Hot Springs Food Pantry at 406-741-2182.