Since 1982, the mission of Great Falls Community Food Bank has been to feed the hungry in our community. We began as a food pantry on the west side of Great Falls known as “Nancy’s Pantry” after one of its founders, Nancy Forbes. While the initial effort was that of a pantry serving the public, what was needed was a true food bank to serve the pantries, kitchens and shelters in the community. This visionary approach has evolved into the Great Falls Community Food Bank that you see today; an emergency food distribution center serving approximately 64 member agencies in Cascade County and surrounding areas.
The Great Falls Community Food Bank is only one of three food banks in Montana and the only Re-distribution Organization for the Montana Food Bank Network and Feeding America in this state. These affiliations provide us with a nationwide network of food resources unavailable to other emergency feeding organizations. Over the past six years, this network relationship has allowed us to increase grocery rescue efforts receiving one-quarter of our inventory through major retailers such as Albertson’s, WalMart, Target, Sam’s Club and Smith’s. In 2011, we were able to distribute over 900,000 pounds of food obtained through grocery rescue, community donations, and purchased inventory. With the increased demands of our current economy, we anticipate this figure to be closer to one million pounds in 2013.
