Community Food Bank moving to new location

The Community Food Bank in Superior has had seven different homes over the last three decades. But starting next month it will open its door at its new permanent location, across the Clark Fork River in the old Bootlegger Bar.

Superior resident, longtime food bank volunteer, and secretary, Rose Duncan, can recall all the eclectic places the program has operated out of in the past. She’s kept track, because she’s been serving the community through the food bank for over 30 years now.

“It started out in the basement of the old Methodist Church, then into the vault at Acey’s next to Pikes, you know those old western vaults with the wheels on them. It has operated out of broom closets, and one time a storage room in the old Sears Appliance Store. Later it was housed at the Senior Center, and then moved again,” Duncan reminisced.

The food bank has been at its current location across from the S&S gas station in Superior for the past 12 years. The property owners were gracious enough to let the Food Bank utilize its former space, but the time has come for new plans and future projects.

Duncan said, “We’ve always known we’d have to be looking for a new place so we squirreled away as much as we could over the years for a down payment on a different building.”

But as anyone looking for a home or property knows right now, the choices are limited, and the prices are high.

She remarked, “The way the housing market is right now, and housing prices, we had to jump on a property cause a year from now there would be nothing left. We were very lucky to find the bootlegger location, and they gave us an offer and we jumped on it.”

In May organizers handed out goods to families for that month and the month of June, due to the food bank being closed for relocating. They plan to be up and running at 111 Mullan Road West in Superior by July 8, their next distribution date.

Duncan noted, “We have been super busy with the transition this month. The Superior Community Church was a huge help with man power, they just helped us haul in all of our dry goods and got them situated.”

Next up on the transfer process is carefully timing the move of all their freezers and refrigerators. The frozen and refrigerated food items stored in them can’t be allowed to thaw or get too warm, or thousands of dollars of precious food will go to waste.

The old layout of the building wasn’t user friendly for distributing food in an efficient manner so plans are to install a new door for better flow in and out.

Duncan explained, “There are lots of projects going on right now, for example the old bar is so high, all of us short women can’t see over it. But it’s made of thousands of pounds of cement so we can’t just tear it out.”

Instead, they are having to build the floor up behind the bar by eight inches so that way volunteers can dispense food to patrons.

In the future the food bank plans to convert a backroom into a large walk-in freezer, which will need to be completely air tight. New flooring will be going in throughout the building, shelving is being installed, an air filtration system and new heating too.

“We are working through a lot of challenges, it’s been a struggle, but it’s all been volunteer labor, people with good hearts have really stepped up,” expressed Duncan. Eight core volunteers make up the group’s main work force. But like any community-based outreach program the need for more helping hands is always present.

But for Duncan who’s made a lifelong commitment to serving her friends and neighbors her motive is simple. She shared, “I do it because there is a need in the community, and it’s not a fufu need. People count on us every Friday to make ends meet and help stretch their food budgets. And right now, with food and gas prices the way they are, we’ve had a huge increase in the number of people coming for help.”

Duncan also conveyed, “The desire to help comes clear back to my childhood, back in the day when folks in town were hungry there was no such thing as food bank or help.”

As upgrades and building projects continue, the food bank is settling into their new home but also their new financial situation. Having the ability to purchase their own facility has been a blessing, but also a bit nerve-racking. Once the food bank received the loan to purchase the building, and expended their savings for the down payment, there were no funds left over for any of the renovations. And then there are the monthly costs to run this vital program.

“People don’t think about that with a food bank, that no one is paid and that they all these additional expenses and overhead like a mortgage, and electricity and insurance.” Out of pocket costs for this non-profit organization can total more than $2000 dollars each month.

If you’re interested in helping with the food bank contact Rose Duncan at 406-822-2551. July 8, is the next distribution date at its new site at 111 Mullan Road West. The food bank is open every Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.