We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
(L-R) Ameila Funk and Jeanne Dalton share a laugh during an interview about the leadership change at the Chinook Food Pantry. Funk recently left the Pantry after 15 years as the director and Dalton began, as the new director, the first of January. The Food Pantry is totally operated by volunteers.
Amelia Funk and Jeanne Dalton review some of the original records of the Chinook Food Pantry, which began in 1998. Dalton recently became the new director at the Pantry after Funk retired. Funk was the first director at the local food bank, retiring after 15 years as a volunteer.
Jeanne Dalton became the new director of the Chinook Food Pantry at the start of January, 2016. She took over the helm of the local non-profit food distribution operation from longtime director Amelia Funk, who served as the first and only director since 2000. The Food Pantry is staffed entirely by volunteers, including the director.
In 1998 the Chinook Ministerial Association, a group made up of the ministers of several churches in town, saw the need for an outlet to help meet the food needs of Blaine County residents. The Chinook VFW offered use of its building, rent free, if the Pantry would pay for utilities. That agreement is still in effect.
For a couple of years the Food Pantry operated without a director but the need for an overall coordinator of the Pantry was soon recognized. Funk stepped up, volunteering to help direct the effort, and served until the end of 2015. Funk said, "When I began as director of the Pantry we were serving about 30 households. Now the Pantry serves nearly 600 households." The Chinook Food Pantry and a facility in Harlem are the only two food banks in Blaine County.
How the Food Pantry operates
Dalton explained, "Our clients can come once a quarter to receive food, at no cost. There are Federal/State income limits the households must meet. During each quarterly visit the Pantry's goal is to provide 15 pounds of food for each qualifying member of a household." The Pantry volunteers try to provide basic staples, like flour and sugar, and the rest may include canned goods, fresh produce, frozen foods, juice and dried foodstuffs. Aside from the staples the food allotments depend on seasonal fresh produce and what kinds of goods have been received through donations from local supporters and from the Montana Food Bank Network, a part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAP is a part of the USDA. Dalton added, "The food from the Food Bank Network only provides about five percent of the food we distribute."
Support for the Chinook Food Pantry comes from a variety of funding and donating sources. Funk said, "We couldn't continue to operate the Food Pantry without the generous support of The Town Pump Charitable Foundation. Their support is critical to the continued operation of many Montana food banks." Town Pump's late fall fundraising efforts match its customers' cash gifts and donates the proceeds to support both the food banks in Harlem and Chinook as well as more than 70 other Montana charitable food outlets. The Food Pantry also receives support from a few smaller grants it has successfully written.
Dalton added, "The rest of our support comes from local donors. Some people make cash donations, which allows us to shop for things we can't get through the Food Network. During the summer we have several donors who bring fresh produce to distribute. Local ranchers and farmers often donate meat. Some folks buy groceries at the store and bring the food for distribution. And several local groups conduct food drives in the community. It all helps meet the needs of the people we serve."
Dalton added, "When we shop for the Pantry our rule is "if it's not on sale we don't buy it." We are very good at finding bargains to help boost the amount of food we can distribute." At times, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, local donors provide turkeys to help clients have a traditional holiday meal. Funk said, "Sometimes we spend a $1000 a month to keep our food inventory adequate to serve our clients."
Both Funk and Dalton mentioned the especially hard work, early on, of Randy Fisher. Funk said, "Randy got us the 501 (c) (3) tax exemption that allows us to give a receipt for a charitable donation which can be used as a tax deduction. It was quite a process with completing forms, refiling them and, finally, getting the tax exemption." The "charitable organization-exempt" status was completed in 1999.
Funk, who completed her fifteenth year at the Pantry, said, "Serving at the Pantry meant a lot to me and to the people who came for help. The years I spent as director were personally very rewarding." If there was any downside, she added, it was getting too involved in the lives of the people she served. She recounted a number of funerals she attended of people who were helped by the Pantry through the years. She added, "We went from the dinosaur stage to a modern operation in the 15+ years we've been in operation."
Dalton, who's been the director for only a month, said her short term goal is to, "Continue operating the Pantry in the excellent manner that Amelia and the other volunteers have established. They've created a very welcoming and efficient operation." Long term Dalton said she will be looking for new ways to streamline how the food is distributed and more sources of funding to support a growing number of households to be served. Of Amelia's service, Dalton said, "Amelia always came to this task with a good heart, as have so many other volunteers over the years. The volunteers and donors make this ministry happen, they still put their hearts into it."
The Food Pantry is located at 112 6th Street W in Chinook. For more information about the food programs, ways to volunteer or how to donate to the Food Pantry, contact Jeanne Dalton at 357-2799 or at the Food Pantry (357-3805) on Tuesdays from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
