How We can Show Mercy and Compassion through the Food Bank
The Missoula Food Bank & Community Center (Food Bank) provides nutritious food to 20% of Missoula County residents over the course of a year! But the Food Bank does much more than that:
- Provides application assistance to SNAP, Medicaid and other resources
- Houses a Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office
- Gives kids access to STEM projects, Missoula County Library books and mentors at EmPower Place
- LEVL program provides training and support for caregivers
- Focuses on advocacy efforts in the state legislature and beyond (such as Summer EBT, which will provide funds to families to nourish their children when school is out)
- Provides over 25,300 School Day snacks, 61,000 Afterschool meals and 65,800 Summer meals for school-age children
Holy Spirit can help the Food Bank in many different ways:
- Supplementing their well-organized Volunteer Program, especially as Delivery Drivers, working in EmPower Place supporting/mentoring children or working as Resource Assistants guiding customers as they shop and connecting them to community resources
- Joining the EmPower Pack program which provides weekend food for over 1,600 children in Missoula County and holds monthly events to build these Packs
- Providing financial support – beyond Alms Sundays, direct contributions and, possibly, special meals in our Parish Hall to raise funds for support
Like many non-profits, the Food Bank is affected by recent changes in government policy – specifically, it has lost at least $180,000 in Federal funding. We cannot let government policy negatively affect our Community!