The Af f iliATe

Volume II, Issue VI October 2011

In this Issue:

PAGE 2

PAGE 5

PAGE 4

Town Pump Grant

Opportunity

Free Flu Shots

Feeding America and Food Bank

Feedback

For more updates and information visit us at:

insidemfbn.org

A new report by the Center for American Progress demonstrates the widespread societal and economic costs of hunger in our nation. According to the report, the domestic cost of hunger was $167.5 billion in 2010. This cost is in addition to spending on SNAP (food stamps) and other public nutrition programs which totaled about $94 billion.

America’s “hunger bill” is primarily due to three major factors: increased illness and avoidable health care costs; poor educational outcomes

and the resulting loss of wages; charitable giving.

The recent recession increased America’s hunger bill by 33% in just three years. No state was immune to this increase with fifteen states, including Montana,

experiencing a 40% or greater increase. Montana’s hunger bill increased by 41%, ranking 6th in terms of greatest percent increase from 2007 to 2010. For 2010, the cost of hunger in Montana was

estimated to be $590 million or nearly $600 per person.

The cost of hunger is reflected in taxes, our contributions to charity, and the costs paid directly and indirectly by those who are struggling with hunger. Public nutrition programs keep the costs of hunger from being even higher. Without the spending to provide SNAP benefits to more than 42 million Americans during the recession, America’s hunger bill would have skyrocketed.

A variety of policy approaches are needed to address this growing cost and achieve a sustained reduction in hunger. These approaches include increased access to full-time employment, a greater number of jobs that pay a living wage, and expanded participation in public nutrition programs.

Read the report, Hunger in America: The Suffering We All Pay For here. View the interactive state map here to see Montana’s hunger bill.

Cost of Hunger in America Estimated at $167.5 Billion

“Montana’s hunger bill

increased by 41%, ranking

6th in terms of greatest percent

increase from 2007 to 2010.”

Check out our new

look!

Featured Products: 7 Grain Oats, Elbow Macaroni The weather is starting to get cold and MFBN has Montana grown 7 grain oats for your clients’ hot breakfast and baking needs. The oats are in 50-lb. bags so please only order if you have repack abilities. MFBN is working hard to get the product repacked for all other agencies. This item has no shared maintenance fee and there is a maximum order of 30 bags per agency. Be sure to check them out under I5785 on your Free Food Shopping List! We also have repacked elbow macaroni in 5.5-lb. bags available! This versatile and tasty pasta is always a favorite and is available under I5786 on your Donated Shopping Lists.

THE AFFILIATE www.insidemfbn.org2

Any agencies with an email address not currently receiving MFBN’s e-newsletter Healthy Families, Strong Economies have been added to our contact list. Healthy Families, Strong Economies features updates and articles related to public nutrition programs, poverty and hunger statistics, current legislation, and other important information for our outreach partners around the state. The newsletter also includes links to valuable resources and outreach materials for download. With the addition of all Partner Agencies, the newsletter now goes out to more than 1,000 contacts across the state. You will receive the newsletter every other month – watch for the next edition in early December!

Contact Lorianne at lburhop@mfbn.org or x230 with any questions.

Watch for It!Healthy Families, Strong Economies E-newsletter

In early October MFBN sent out a request to partner agencies to garner support for food programs like TEFAP, CSFP, SNAP, and WIC in Montana. As you know, these programs not only benefit those in need in your community but also help ease the burden on emergency food providers such as all of you, who are the front line for such programs in your community.

The results are in and we would like to extend a huge thank you and a round of applause to Community Food Bank of Mineral County in Superior and Harlem Area Senior Citizens Center for collecting the most signatures to the sign-on letter to support food programs in Montana!

These partner agencies will be receiving plaques recognizing their invaluable support to MFBN and food insecure individuals across the state. Great job!!

Thanks to Partner Agencies in Superior and Harlem

Community Food Bank of Mineral

County in Superior and

Harlem Area Senior Citizens Center

collected the most signatures in our

sign-on lettercompetition!

Looking for funding? Now is the time to apply to the Town Pump Charitable Foundation. You can research this generous foundation online at www.townpump.com/index.aspx/corporate/community_giving .

If your organization is interested in seeking financial support from the Town Pump Charitable Foundation, please send a brief letter outlining

your mission, the project you want to support, the amount of funds you are requesting, and a copy of your IRS determination letter.

Also include the name and phone number of the contact person at your organization. Do NOT send video tapes, CDs or a binder of any kind. Please allow two to three weeks for processing. Send you letter of request (also known as letter of inquiry) to:

Town Pump Charitable Foundation Attn: Grant Committee P. O. Box 6000 Butte, MT 59702For assistance, questions or support, call

Kathryn McCleerey at x244.

Town Pump Offers Grant Opportunities

Montana Food Bank Network Partner Agency News October 2011 3

All delivery times will be published online and in the Affiliate concurrently to scheduled delivery dates. If for any reason your scheduled delivery time changes from what has been published, MFBN staff will notify you immediately.

November/December Delivery Schedule

Date Time City-Partner Agency 8-Nov 9:00-9:45 Stevensville—Pantry Partners8-Nov 10:00-10:15 Victor—Victor School (Victor School Backpack)8-Nov 10:30-11:00 Victor—House of Praise8-Nov 11:15-11:45 Hamilton—Bitterroot Valley Calvary Chapel8-Nov 11:45-1:15 Hamilton—Haven House, WMMHC Eddy Meuchel Group Home8-Nov 1:30-2:00 Darby—Darby Bread Box

10-Nov 10:00-10:45 Bozeman—Gallatin Valley Food Bank, Headwaters Area Food Bank, West Yellowstone Food Bank, Yellowstone Social Senior Center, Gardiner Food Pantry, Big Sky Youth Center10-Nov 12:45-1:15 Helena—Helena Food Share, Helena Pre-Release, Montana Youth Homes, Elkhorn Treatment Facility, Transitional Living Facility, Salvation Army, Rocky Mountain Development Council, Lewis and Clark Group Home

15-Nov 8:30-9:00 Dillon—Beaverhead Community Food Pantry, (Dillon School Backpack)15-Nov 10:30-11:30 Butte—Butte Emergency Food Bank15-Nov 11:30-11:45 Butte—Butte Rescue Mission15-Nov 12:30-1:00 Anaconda—Project Care, Discovery House15-Nov 1:45-2:15 Maxville—Granite County Food Bank

17-Nov 9:00-9:30 Thompson Falls—Community Harvest Food Bank, Thompson Falls Seniors, Thompson Falls AOG Church, (Thompson Falls School Backpack)17-Nov 10:00-10:30 Trout Creek—Open Gate Ranch Youth Group, Trout Creek Seniors, (Trout Creek School Backpack)17-Nov 10:45-11:30 Noxon—Community Services Fellowship, Noxon Seniors, Heron Seniors, (Noxon School Backpack)17-Nov 12:15-1:15 Troy—Troy Food Pantry, YAAK Food Cupboard17-Nov 1:30-2:00 Troy—Troy Community Baptist Church Food Pantry17-Nov 2:15-3:30 Libby— Libby Food Pantry, Libby Christian Church, Kootenai Valley Head Start, Libby Seniors

18-Nov 8:00-8:15 Alberton—Alberton Seniors18-Nov 8:15-8:45 Alberton—Alberton Community Food Pantry18-Nov 9:15-9:45 Superior—Community Food Bank of Mineral County, Superior Seniors18-Nov 11:00-11:45 Plains—Plains Community Food Bank, Shekinah Kitchen, Plains-Paradise Seniors, (Plains School Backpack)18-Nov 12:30-1:00 Hot Springs—Hot Springs Food Pantry, (Hot Springs School Backpack)18-Nov 1:30-1:45 Dixon—Dixon Senior Citizens Center, (Dixon School Backpack)

22-Nov 10:15-10:30 Livingston—Livingston Food Pantry22-Nov 12:00-12:30 White Sulphur Springs—Meagher Country Nutrition Coalition22-Nov 3:00-3:30 Lewistown—Central Montana Community Cupboard, FCCOA, B/G of Lewistown22-Nov 5:00-5:30 Roundup—Musselshell County Food Bank22-Nov 5:30-6:00 Roundup—Youth Christian Home

23-Nov 7:30-7:45 Hardin—Helping Hands23-Nov 8:15-8:45 Garryowen—Center Pole Foundation23-Nov 10:00-10:45 Billings—Family Services INC., Alternatives/Passages, Montana Rescue Mission, Salvation Army23-Nov 11:15-11:45 Laurel—Community Hope23-Nov 12:15-12:30 Joliet—Joliet Food Pantry23-Nov 1:00-1:30 Columbus—Project Hope23-Nov 2:15-2:30 Big Timber—Big Timber Community Food Bank

THE AFFILIATE www.insidemfbn.org4

Delivery Schedule Continued . . . Events and Reminders

When filling out your Monthly Activity Report, the number of “Pounds in” should include the poundage of all food donated and purchased from all locations, not just the pounds of food received from the Montana Food Bank Network. If you have questions on filling out your Monthly Activity Reports, please contact Diane Matthews at dmatthews@mfbn.org or at x222.

Calculating “Pounds In”

on MAR’s

ORDERS DUE:November 4

MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORTS DUE:November 15

Date Time City-Partner Agency29-Nov 8:00-8:15 St. Ignatius—St. Ignatius Seniors29-Nov 8:15-8:45 St. Ignatius—Mission Valley Food Pantry29-Nov 9:15-9:45 Ronan—Ronan Bread Basket, Mission Valley Seniors29-Nov 11:30-12:15 Columbia Falls—Columbia Falls Food Bank29-Nov 12:30-1:00 Whitefish—North Valley Food Bank, Whitefish Four Square Church29-Nov 2:00-3:00 Eureka—Tobacco Valley Food Pantry, Eureka Four Square Church, Tobacco Valley Seniors

1-Dec 8:00-8:15 Polson—Polson Seniors1-Dec 8:30-9:00 Polson—Polson Loaves and Fish Food Pantry, (Polson School Backpack)1-Dec 9:45-10:15 Lakeside—Westshore Food Bank1-Dec 10:45-11:30 Kalispell—Flathead Food Bank, Lighthouse Christian Home, Samaritan House1-Dec 11:45-12:00 Kalispell—North West Montana Veterans Stand Down1-Dec 12:30-1:00 Bigfork—Bigfork Food Pantry1-Dec 2:30-2:45 Arlee—(Arlee School Back Pack)

2-Dec 11:30-12:00 Seeley Lake—Seeley-Swan Food Bank

6-Dec 8:30-9:30 Great Falls—Great Falls Food Bank, Salvation Army, St. Vincent DePaul, FISH, (Great Falls Schools Backpack)6-Dec 10:30-11:00 Choteau—Teton County Food Pantry, Pondera Food Pantry6-Dec 12:15-12:45 Browning—Blackfeet Food Bank

13-Dec 12:00-12:30 Lame Deer—Boys Girls of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, St. Labre Food Pantry13-Dec 1:00-1:15 Colstrip—Colstrip Community Food Bank13-Dec 3:00-3:30 Miles City—Custer County Food Bank

14-Dec 9:15-9:45 Wibaux—Wibaux Food Bank14-Dec 10:15-10:45 Glendive—Dawson County Food Bank, Boys & Girls Club of Dawson County, (Glendive School Backpack)14-Dec 12:30-1:00 Culbertson—Culbertson Food Bank14-Dec 1:30-1:45 Poplar—New Life Mission14-Dec 2:15-3:00 Wolf Point—Wolf Point Thrift Store & Food Bank, Wolf Point Seniors14-Dec 3:15-3:30 Wolf Point—Basket of Hope14-Dec 4:30-5:00 Glasgow—Valley County Council On Aging14-Dec 5:00-5:30 Glasgow—Valley Community Food Bank14-Dec 7:00-7:30 Malta—Malta Food Bank, Malta Opportunities INC.

15-Dec 8:00-8:15 Harlem—Harlem Food Pantry, Harlem Area Senior Citizens Center15-Dec 8:45-9:15 Chinook—Chinook Food Pantry15-Dec 9:45-10:30 Havre—Havre Food Bank, Feed My Sheep, Boys and Girls of the Hi- Line, (Havre Schools Backpack)

??-Dec TBD Missoula—Missoula Agencies begin scheduled pick ups

Just in time for sick season, MFBN is very pleased to announce that we were awarded 2,000 vouchers for flu shots at Walgreens! The vouchers will be at MFBN in the next couple of weeks.

If you have a Walgreens in your area and are interested in distributing vouchers to your clients please contact Brent at ext. 233 / bweisgram@mfbn.org with an estimate of how many vouchers you think you will be able to distribute to your clients.

FREEFlu Shots!

Montana Food Bank Network Partner Agency News October 2011 5

The Montana Food Bank Network is pleased to announce that the following members have been named to receive $500 each from Blackfoot Communications, along with the Montana Food Bank Network. This generous gift was made possible through the efforts of Mr. Bill Squires, Blackfoot Senior Vice President, and MFBN Advisory Board Member Ms. Terre Short:

KNA Granite County Food Bank Jocko Valley Food Pantry Community Harvest Food Bank – Thompson Falls Missoula Food Bank Alberton Community Food Pantry Plains Community Food Bank Community Food Bank of Mineral County Seeley Swan Community Food Bank Community Services Fellowship – Noxon Mission Valley Food Pantry

Congratulations to each of you for the work you do in Blackfoot’s service area. For information and questions, please contact Kathryn McCleerey at x244.

Blackfoot Communications Provides Gifts to Agencies

This October MFBN is very pleased to have been able to send Agency Relations Manager Jeff Gutierrez to Chicago to attend Feeding America’s 2011 Agency Capacity, Programs, and Nutrition Learning Conference. Jeff spent four days attending training sessions and networking with food bank staff from all over the United States to address the successes and challenges of emergency food providers in today’s harsh economic climate. Among the training topics covered were: • Agencytrainingresources• NationalprogramslikeBackpack,MobileFoodPantry,andSNAPoutreach• MapTheMealGapandtools&strategiesforfillinggapsinservicearea• Improvingagencyengagementandcapacity• Outreachinruralareastoincreasedistributionanddeliverprograms• Ruralagencycapacitybuilding• Schoolpantries• Nutritioneducation• Producedistribution• “GrayAreas”of agencyrelations What does this mean to you? Well, it means that MFBN’s Agency Relations Department is going to be spending a lot of time this winter examining where we are as a network, where we need to be, and developing strategies to get us there – and we’re going to need your help. Emergency food distribution in Montana presents a unique situation, even compared to other predominantly rural areas in the U.S. As a result, MFBN must implement unique ideas to overcome obstacles and improve our services statewide. Some service gaps may be best addressed by conducting Mobile Food Pantries, while others will require starting from square one to establish community support. Still others will need the feedback, buy-in, and assistance of established Partner Agencies of the Network. What is clear is that improving MFBN’s service to those in need in Montana is going to take a patient and cooperative effort of the entire Network, some fresh ideas, and changes to the way we have been doing things. We strongly encourage you to keep reading The Affiliate for updates and ask that you please respond when MFBN requests your opinion or support and attend MFBN meetings and conferences whenever possible. Everyone needs to be involved if we are going to end hunger in Montana. Thank you.

Feeding America & Food Bank Feedback

For the latest information and updates on new products,

special offers, delivery schedules, shopping lists,

Pioneer Food Buying Service, grants, media featuring issues

in food banking today and current outreach programs, log on to our website www.

insidemfbn.org. You can even submit your monthly activity

report and grocery rescue numbers online!

Chief Executive Officer Peggy Grimes x225Chief Development Officer Kathryn McCleerey x244Development Coordinator Ben Darrow x226Development Coordinator Kattie Kingsley x228Development VISTA Sarah Bhimani x239Chief Finance Officer Clark Tower x223Accountant Morgan Brennan x224Chief Policy Officer Kate Devino x231Public Policy Manager Lorianne Burhop x230Public Policy VISTA Courtney McGuire x227Chief Operations Officer Brent Weisgram x233Transportation Manager Rob Shipley x240Inventory Control Coordinator Stacey Grimes x251Agency Relations Manager Jeff Gutierrez x232Agency Relations & Volunteer Coordinator

Nate Merkt x252

Agency Relations Assistant Diane Matthews x222Warehouse Chuck James x237

MFBN Staff

THE AFFILIATE www.insidemfbn.org 6

The Montana Food Bank Network

5625 ExpresswayMissoula, MT 59808

Phone: 406-721-3825800-809-4752

Fax: 406-542-3770agencyinfo@mfbn.org

MISSION:Working to

eliminate hunger in Montana through food acquisition

and distributions, education, and

advocacy.

CORE VALUES:

JusticeRespectIntegrity

TrustExcellenceDiversity

www.

.orginsidemfbn

The freedom of man, I contend, is the freedom to eat.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Ingredients• 3 tablespoons olive oil• 1 cup oats• 5 large tomatoes, halved and sliced• 1/3 cup onion, chopped• 1 clove garlic, chopped

• 3 cups water, divided• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Oat Soup

Directions1. Heat a large deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Pour in the olive oil, and let it heat up. Add the oats; cook and stir until toasted. 2. In a blender or large food processor, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, 1 cup of water, and cilantro. Blend until smooth. Pour into the pan with the toasted oats. Stir in the remaining 2 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Mix in the salt and chicken bouillon. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Enjoy hot or warm.

% Daily Value * Total Fat 12.1g 19 % Saturated Fat 1.7g 9 % Cholesterol < 1mg < 1 % Sodium 499mg 20 % Potassium 677mg 19 % Total Carbohydrates 24.6g 8 % Dietary Fiber 5.2g 21 % Protein 5.2g 10 % Sugars 7g Vitamin A 47 % Vitamin C 53 % Calcium 6 % Iron 17 % Thiamin 29 % Niacin 20 % Vitamin B6 15 % Magnesium 21 % Folate 27 %

Serving Size 1/4 of a recipe Servings Per Recipe 4 Amount Per Serving Calories 218 Calories from Fat 109