HELENA — Helena Food Share says more Lewis and Clark County residents are turning to the organization for help putting food on the table as higher living costs and changes to food assistance programs put additional pressure on household budgets.
The organization is now serving about 175 households per day, roughly 30% more than at this time last year.
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“Everything is more,” volunteer Linda Kindrick said.
Executive Director Jordan Evertz said the increase is being driven by a combination of new customers and people who have previously relied on the food share returning more frequently.
“I would say it’s due to an increased cost of living,” Evertz said. “So just like we would experience, you and I, groceries cost a little bit more, housing is more expensive.”
Evertz said Helena Food Share is also seeing more unhoused people coming in for support. At the same time, some customers who previously needed food assistance once a month are now visiting multiple times a month.
“Their budgets are just stretched further or their benefits aren't quite lasting as long as they used to,” Evertz said.
Another concern is the impact of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Food share officials say changes to the program are expected to affect about 7,000 Montanans. About 25% of Helena Food Share customers receive SNAP benefits, and Evertz said the organization is preparing for the possibility that demand will continue to increase as those changes are implemented.
“Food banks and SNAP work really closely together to help put food on the table for our neighbors,” Evertz said. “When one of those pieces of the puzzle is impacted, the whole system feels it.”
Despite the increase, Evertz said Helena Food Share has continued to meet the need.
The organization's move into its new building has helped. The facility provides nearly twice as much space for operations, allowing Helena Food Share to better accommodate the number of people coming through its doors.
But Evertz said another critical piece of keeping the operation running is its volunteers.
Helena Food Share fills about 100 volunteer shifts each week. Volunteers help stock shelves, accept donations, rescue food from local grocery stores and load food into customers' vehicles.
“A predominant amount of our impact comes from our volunteers,” Evertz said. “Without our volunteers, we could not do what we do and have the impact in our community.”
Kindrick has volunteered with Helena Food Share for two years. She comes in before the market opens, helping stock deli coolers with food collected from area stores.
For Kindrick, some of the people she has met while volunteering have put the need into perspective.
“There was this woman that came in. She saw a can of applesauce,” Kindrick recalled. “She was so excited. And she was like, ‘Oh, I haven't eaten in days.’”
Kindrick said encounters like that remind her why she continues to volunteer.
“Seeing someone come in and tell their story like that, it really brings to mind and to heart the difference that we do make in the people's lives that come here looking for food,” she said.
As Helena Food Share prepares for demand to remain elevated heading into the holiday season, the organization is also receiving community support through the “Be a Friend in Deed, Help Those in Need” campaign with Town Pump.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the campaign, which helps support food banks across Montana through community donations and matching funds from Town Pump.
For Evertz, the increasing demand has reinforced how much Helena Food Share depends on that broader community support.
“It really does take a community to help continue to make sure our neighbors have what they need,” Evertz said.
And despite the challenges ahead, she remains confident that support will continue.
“Helena will continue to show up because they have when we've needed them,” Evertz said.
