The Missoula Food Bank is limiting customer visits to once-per-week. Dwindling pandemic-era funding and donations are behind the change.
Food bank Director Amy Allison Thompson said the pantry in late June set a record for the most households it had ever served in a single day — nearly 450. She said the pantry doesn’t have the resources to continue offering unlimited visits.
“That is not an option for us any longer,” Allison Thompson said. “So, we had to take a hard look at how we were offering services.”
The Missoula Food Bank isn’t the only one dealing with high demand. Montana Food Bank Network President Gayle Carlson said that while the total number of households visiting pantries per month in Montana is down from the height of the pandemic, those who do visit are going more frequently.
Carlson said increasing living expenses and food prices, especially in rural areas, may be to blame.
“It’s no longer a choice between their utilities and food, or their rent and food, but it’s now: they have to pay the rent, and they don’t have any money left for food,” Carlson said.
Carlson added the number of weekly visits allowed to customers varies at pantries across the state depending on size, staffing and location and that it's not unusual for a pantry to restrict some access.
The Missoula Food Bank said it could always use donations of produce and protein, but that the shift to a once-per-week model will likely help stabilize food availability.
