Our History

The Montana Food Bank Network was founded in 1983 as an independent nonprofit corporation. The State Legislature provided $25,000 of seed money which funded 16 Vista volunteers. In the beginning, since an approach to hunger was virgin territory, the work was about Hunger assessment. There were only sixteen hunger agencies in Montana at the time.

The organization progressed humbly but steadily over the years:

From a nomadic existence...to establishing a base in Missoula,
From borrowed and minimal space...to owning a modern 12,000 square foot warehouse with 2,000 square feet of office space, leasing a second warehouse in Eastern Montana and operating a cannery in Deer Lodge.
From an all-volunteer force...to one consisting of a paid staff of 12, an 18 member board of directors and a core of 20+ volunteers.
From borrowing and begging unused space on state trucks to make irregularly scheduled deliveries to inconvenient drop destinations...to a fleet of 5 trucks with delivery directly to the door of the agencies we serve on a scheduled basis as standard procedure,
From having no regular source of food donations...to establishing a variety of national and regional donors including full affiliate status with America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger organization.
In a way, sadly - from serving the 16 original hunger agencies to the 154 that we serve currently.
From hunger assessment work...to professional, efficient direct service providing our 2,500,000 pounds of food per year and developing the only paid hunger advocacy staff in the state.

Although we have been mainly in the "direct service" business over most of our history, we have been aware of the importance of advocacy and education and in being involved in working against the root causes of hunger in Montana. In 2001, the Network merged with the Montana Hunger Coalition with the goal of presenting a stronger advocacy front - to put ourselves out of business by eliminating Hunger in Montana.

Federal Poverty Level Income for a family of 3 = $1,383/month

Less average Montana rent for family of 3
= $477/month

Less average Montana Childcare for 2 children
= $780/month

Monthly income remaining for utilities, transportation, healthcare and food
= $126/month