Food bank seeks donations for new building

This weekend is possibly the time when more people come to County 54 with the Mineral County Fair taking place. 

More Mineral County school alumni return, and several large family reunions have become annual gatherings to come home and see everyone and take in the fair that remains the largest event for socializing. Class reunions happen and you may see a float or two in the parade Saturday with alumni waving and hollering to friends standing on the street that they haven’t seen for years.

A challenge has surfaced to the class members who left as well as those that remained close by. The older classes will remember when logging was the muscle for the economy and the more recent classes had a family member or a friend who probably worked at IFG (Idaho Forest Group) before they closed, which was the last mill in the county of that caliber. The economic climate has changed but the spirit and memories remain. 

That being said, there are families struggling more than ever not only because of the different economic conditions, but because inflation and the cost of living is affecting health and lifestyles. The last census reported that 14.1% of the people in Mineral County live below the poverty line. That is higher than the national average. There are hungry families living close by.

The Mineral County Food Bank has been a lifeline for people and a normal school challenge would be to see how many pounds of food can be raised by each class. 

But not this time. 

“The building is shot,” Rose Duncan said. “It was built in 1907, we believe, back when buildings were quickly put up. It still has newspaper in the walls for insulation. It’s been remodeled many, many times but nothing structurally was done. We are going to have to have it demolished and then rebuilt and grant money isn’t going to cover nearly as much as we hoped it would.” 

Duncan is not only the Mineral County Fair Lady for 2024, but she is the treasurer for the Mineral County Food Bank. 

“We bought the building at 45 West Mullan during Covid and consider it a miracle that we even found property and the owner worked with us. We knew there were going to be issues with the property, but we had no other place to go,” she explained. 

The down payment was $50,000 that had taken them 30 years to raise. 

“TrailWest Bank was another miracle in how they made the financing work because we do not receive money from the state. The staff is all volunteer. Grants and community goodwill along with private donations is our only revenue stream.” 

The building is not condemned but the architects said that if the winds that hit Missoula had landed here, the building would have been flattened. Heavy snow is another concern that will be watched closely, and seismic activity would crumble it too. 

“The first thing I’m going to buy next month is a wind gauge to put on the building,” Duncan said. “I’ll find out from the architects what amount of wind will be considered dangerous and we will evacuate if we need to.”

Grants do not cover the demolition of the building and once they get to that point, they have yet to find a place to stay open for their clients. 

“As nice as it has been when people drop off canned goods, we don’t want to move everything to a storage location and then to where we will set up a temporary office and then again back here when its all completed. We need money, please.” 

Soon, they will be asking for letters of support to accompany the grant requests, and these can come from their cliental, businesses in the county and residents who may not use their services, but certainly know people that rely on them.

So, each class that graduated from St. Regis, Superior and Alberton are invited to become part of this friendly challenge. The class that raises the most money will have the honor of having a plaque displayed in the Food Bank honoring their contribution.

You can talk directly with Rose Duncan during the fair as she will be at the Superior Junior High School Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am to 3pm. If you recently lost your Medicaid and food stamp (SNAP) without notice, Duncan is there to help direct you to the correct division to regain or reapply.