Rediscovering home: Food bank adjusts to challenges

The Community Food Bank of Mineral County stands between 85 Mineral County families and homelessness. 

The food bank serves as a stopgap for families whose financial condition falls short of providing for all their needs. Families receive three meals a day for three days a week. They must provide for the other four days however they can.  Rose Duncan, secretary-treasurer of the Community Food Bank of Mineral County board, told me that surveys divulge that without the food bank, those families would have to take money from their rent or utilities.  No rent, no home.   

The food bank has had to overcome many challenges in the 33 years since its inception in 1991. The cancellation of a federal grant presents a new and great challenge, but volunteers, led by Rose, stand ready to meet that challenge. 

The food bank recently received a $700,000 federal grant to construct a new building. The recent efforts to cut the federal budget have left volunteers anxious about the grant. So far, the food bank has not received any indication that the Department of Government Efficiency will “take it away from us,” Rose said. 

My late mother, Gloria, was one of the Methodist women who founded the Mineral County food bank. Mom was a follower of Christ, and believed in the Christ’s command to treat “the least among us” as one would treat Him. (Mom always used the phrase, follower of Christ, rather than call herself a “Christian,” because she felt she fell far short of living a life that lived up to Jesus’s teaching.)   Mom could not abide that in the greatest country in the world, in Ronald Reagan’s Shining City on the Hill, a child would go hungry. 

Gloria was named a Senior Citizen of the Year in 2000 for her volunteer work with the food bank and other local organizations. An article written by Superior’s Judy Thompson for the Mineral Independent said: 

“In 1991, Gloria was instrumental in organizing the Superior Food Bank, under the umbrella of the Methodist Church. Because of regulations it is now called the Mineral County Food Bank. She has served as Manager, President and is currently active on the Board of Directors. She has been a driving force behind the food bank and has only missed a couple meetings. She has made many trips to Missoula to pick up items for the food bank and she has purchased the bread products from her own pocketbook.” 

Mom would not like me spending so much ink on her. She would want me to honor the volunteers who have carried on the cause. The food bank requires the dedication of many souls, but when I spoke with Rose Duncan I heard echoes of my mother. 

Rose recalled the challenges faced by the freshly born food bank. It was housed in personal garages, the basement of what I call the former Pike Drug Store building that was once owned by brother, Guy, and anywhere else that could be found. The food bank moved seven times in 30 years. The food largely came from individuals or from food drives. 

Today, the challenges are different but even more challenging. Rose explained that a common misconception is that the food bank gets all its food for free and only has to pay any cost associated with distribution. The food bank purchases most of its food, spending an average of $1,800 a month. 

The recent cancellation of the federal grant that provides food to the banks nationwide at wholesale prices means that the Montana Food Bank Network has $400,000 less for purchasing food to distribute to local food banks.   

“That’s kind of tough, especially for the small food banks,” Rose said.   

The Community Food Bank of Mineral County got most of the frozen meat and vegetables from the network. Occasionally, the food bank will get some roadkill, though it often must pay for processing fees. The food bank will now have to pay more for food, which means less food to distribute to each family. 

Food bank volunteers, like Rose, must be creative in adjusting to the changing challenges. Inflation caused the organization to quit providing families with milk and bread a couple of years ago. However, a new volunteer, who lives in Spokane, brings day old bread with her on trips to Superior. ]However, that volunteer is soon moving here, ending the bread runs. 

The volunteers used creativity to obtain the former Montana Bar and the two adjacent lots (the parking lot). In the early years, the food bank had only $10 in the bank. Rose started building a savings account, which rose to $50,000 when the bar building became available. The Trail’s West Bank agreed to finance the remainder of the $180,000 price tag over 30 years. 

The grant does not pay for demolition of the old building, which was condemned by engineers who assessed the building for the Bank. In order to use the building, the front awning was taken down. Clients entered through a side door and only one family is allowed in the building at a time. 

Rose has recruited local folks to provide equipment for the demolition, though she still needs someone with equipment necessary to take out the foundation.  The food bank needs volunteer laborers for the demolition. 

The organization hopes to be ready to begin work on the new building in June. Rose says the original plans for the building will have to be scaled back because of inflated construction costs. Prospective bids came in at over a million dollars. The board is looking at a pole building with an open design. Plans are to construct it so that it can be expanded, possibly adding a commercial kitchen and community room “that is badly needed,” Rose said. 

The need will not stop during construction, so once again innovation is required.  A dry box with freezers will be placed in the parking lot. The Seventh Day Adventist Church has allowed the use of its annex to store dry and canned goods.  The Masons will provide its hall for food distribution. 

“If we are closed, people would be in trouble,” Rose said. “If families do not have the food we provide in an emergency, then they steal money from the rent or utilities.” 

The food bank can always use more volunteers, and the transition period to a new building will require even more. New volunteers will find those dedicated to the command to help others.   

“I’ve got the best group of volunteers ever to hit Mineral County,” Rose proclaimed. “They’re invested in this community.” 

*I was saddened to hear that Suzy, Rose’s sister and my classmate from nearly start to finish, passed away from an illness a few years back. I was tickled to hear that she quite enjoyed being a baking, canning homemaker for her family.  No one would have guessed that in high school.