Food bank ready to move

When the Flathead Food Bank completes its move to new quarters at the Gateway Community Center (formerly Gateway West Mall) the nonprofit organization will nearly quadruple its space.

"We'll be going from a 2,700 square-foot Quonset hut with air conditioning in the winter and heat in the summer to 10,600 square feet of beautiful space," Food Bank Director Lori Botkin said.

The food bank plans to move its operation from Sixth Avenue West to the former Dollar Plus space at the community center starting Oct. 16. If all goes as expected, the pantry will open Oct. 20 "as normal, without missing a beat," Botkin said.

Along with the new location comes a new way of distributing food that gives patrons more choice and the ability to "shop" for food items.

"Right now they fill out a list and we fill the boxes and give the food to them," she said. "At our new location they'll be handed a list and they can then pick out their own food."

Money for the relocation came largely from an anonymous donor who earmarked a sizable amount of money for a new building a couple of years ago.

Volunteer help and donations have poured in, too, Botkin said.

Several area banks have donated office equipment while contractors and other businesses have donated services and given discounts on equipment. Safeway donated a considerable amount of equipment from its Whitefish grocery store before it was torn down and rebuilt last year.

Among the Safeway equipment was a 4-by-8-foot butcher block that's being refurbished and converted into a conference table.

"The really cool thing is that this table was originally used in the Safeway store when it was located at Gateway West Mall," Botkin said, explaining that information on the underside of the table traced it to its original Kalispell location.

Other pieces of equipment also were used at the Gateway West Safeway store.

The new food bank will have all sorts of amenities, including a loading dock, children's play area and a huge area for sorting tables.

Donations of food items and money have remained stable for Flathead Food Bank despite the tight economy. But use of the Kalispell pantry has nearly doubled in the past year, Botkin said.

A year ago it was serving 80 to 90 families a day; now the average is 150 to 160 families daily.

"The holidays will throw us over 200 families a day," she said.

Using every opportunity to maximize its finances, the food bank has worked with local "coupon lady" Jennifer Turner, a consummate coupon clipper who is sharing her wisdom with food-bank staffers.

"We're couponing in bulk now," Botkin said.

By using 720 coupons for soup, the food bank recently was able to buy 2,064 cans of soup regularly priced at $2,500 for just $720.

"She's been an integral part of our operation," Botkin said.

The food bank needs volunteers to help with the move and cleaning up drywall dust at the new location.

Call 756-3663 if you can help.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com