Big Sky BBQ Festival
Big Sky Brewing Co. Presents the
Big Sky BBQ Festival
June 12th 3:00-9:00pm at Big Sky Brewery Co. Missoula, MT
Great Food: Eat some of Montana’s best mouthwatering BBQ from a variety of local BBQ!
- Famous Dave’s BBQ: St. Louis Style Ribs
- Bob-B-Que’s Famous Pulled Pork
- Finn and Porter: Mount St. Helens Braised Beef Shortribs grilled and glazed with Bourbon BBQ Sauce
- Knuckleheads BBQ: Whole smoked pig with famous BBQ sauce
- Outback Steakhouse: BBQ Chicken and ribs
- Lee Burns and Matt Beer’s whole smoked pig
- Longriders BBQ: Mini Pulled Pork Sandwich
- Axemen: Kabobs
- Mullan Station: Ribs
Great Drinks: Big Sky Brewing Company and Coke Products!
Great Music: Enjoy live music by:
3:00- 4:30pm Tom Catmull and the Clerics
4:30- 6:00pm County Line
6:00-7:30pm Russ Nasset and the Revelators
7:30-9:00 pm Zeppo MT
Admission: $3.00, children under 12 free. Tickets at the door.
All proceeds benefit the Montana Food Bank Network
For More information Call: 721-3825
or visit www.thebigskybbq.com
Bridging to Those in Need
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian | Posted: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 10:20 pm
Nick Salmon, right, an architect with CTA Architects in Missoula, donated his time and expertise to the project. “One of the good things about this is they have to think on their feet now that they’re actually building a bridge.” Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian
Designing a structure on a computer and paper is one thing.
Bringing that structure to life is quite another. Especially when the construction medium is cans.
That's where students in Victor Loya's intermediate drafting class at Sentinel High School found them
Designing a structure on a computer and paper is one thing.
Bringing that structure to life is quite another. Especially when the construction medium is cans.
That's where students in Victor Loya's intermediate drafting class at Sentinel High School found themselves Wednesday morning.
"Well, it's not turning out exactly the way we envisioned it," said David Butler, a 16-year-old sophomore.
In part, that's because cans probably aren't the best thing to build a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge with.
But cans of food are the symbolism that undergirds the reasoning behind the project.
The Sentinel construction project is part of a larger "Canstruction" project, which is itself part of a larger, nationwide project that gathers both money and food for food banks and pantries.
In Montana, the beneficiary is the Montana Food Bank Network, which provides food and support to about 190 hunger relief efforts across the state.
"For us, the ‘Canstruction' really serves two purposes," said the Food Bank Network's Tirzah Juskalian. "Just from the projects alone, we got 15,000 cans of food last year. This year we'll probably double that."
But the event also serves to bring awareness to the Montana's hunger problem. One in three Montanans is at risk of being hungry, Juskalian said.
"This is a way to share what we're doing with people," she said.
***
This year's event - which will feature the "Canstruction" projects at Southgate Mall - has eight teams participating.
Each team works with a local architect and constructs a structure of its choice. Sentinel's team did a practice build on Wednesday, but the final projects will go up at the mall between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday.
The Sentinel team pondered a variety of potential projects before settling on the Golden Gate Bridge.
"The concept is bridging the gap to those in need," said Loya, whose eight students have been working on the bridge while also doing two other classroom projects.
"This has really kept them busy, but I think they've enjoyed the fact that they're taking part in something that has an element of community service to it," Loya said.
That element is part of the pleasure, said Shane Caye, a 15-year-old sophomore.
"It's nice to know it's all for a good cause," Caye said.
In addition to construction skills, the students had to raise money and do outreach in the community to find sponsors. Ultimately, all the food was either donated or bought.
Best of all, it will eventually go to hungry Montanans.
For now, though, those giant cans of tomatoes are forming bridge abutments for stacked towers of tomato soup, which are spanned with apple juice cans and cabled with slender packages of jerky. Beneath lies a roadway of Ramen noodles.
"It's sort of hard to understand how the cans and jerky are going to work when you're working on the computer," said Butler. "I don't think anyone could really have imagined how it might work out."
Actually, though, architect Nick Salmon had some ideas. He's worked with other "Canstruction" projects and knows both their joys and their perils.
"One of the good things about this is that they have to think on their feet now that they're actually building the bridge," said Salmon, who works at CTA Architects. "And that's an excellent, real-life lesson."
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.
Original article: http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_79a9efd4-42c7-11df-9e28-001cc4c002e0.html
Related Video
- Bridging to Those in Need
- Sentinel High School drafting students participate in the "Canstruction" project to learn as well as benefit the Montana Food Bank
CANstruction Event Coming Soon!
Come watch creativity merg
e with philanthropy at the Montana Food Bank Network's Second Annual CANstruction® Competition! With eight teams competing to win in the categories of Structural Integrity, Best Use of Labels, Best of Show-Judges Choice, and People's Choice, this year's event is sure to be a blast!
What is CANstruction®? A foundation of the Society for Design Administration, CANstruction® is a design/build competition currently held in citities throughout North America. Teams of architects, engineers, students and folks from numerous organizations come together to build large structures made entirely from full cans of food. It takes months of fundraising and planning and thousands of cans of food to create a structure! At the end of the event, all of the cans are donated to the Montana Food Bank Network for distribution to our partner agencies state-wide. Missoula's first event was held July 2009, with four teams and four amazing structures. As a result of the event, over 15,000 lbs of food was donated by the teams to the Montana Food Bank Network.
The Second Annual CANstruction® event will take place at the Southgate Mall in Missoula, adjacent to the fountain near Sears. If you are in the area, please stop by and watch as piles of canned goods are transformed into magnificent structures. Everyone is invited to donate to vote for their favorite structure. At a time when nearly one in three Montanans are considered at risk of hunger, there has never been a more important time to show your support. Help us raise the awareness of hunger in Montana by stopping by!
Please join us anytime during the event!
Schedule:
The Build: Friday, April 9th 1:00pm-7:00pm
Awards Ceremony: Saturday, April 10th 3:00pm
Public Viewing: Friday April 9th - Wednesday April 14th
Teams:
The Good Food Store and Encompass Designs
UM student group Circle K and OZ Architects
DirecTV and Inkstone Architecture
American Humanics Student Association and CTA
Gateway Community Federal Credit Union and Macarthur, Means, and Wells Architects
Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation
St Joseph 7th Grade and NC Designs
Please contact Tirzah for more information at tirzah@mfbn.org or 721-3825 x.252. We look forward to seeing you there!
Montanans Receiving Recognition for Reducing Hunger, Improving Nutrition
The Food Security Council of the Montana Food Bank Network - which works to improve long term food security and reduce hunger in Montana, is pleased to announce it’s recognition of individuals and organizations from Montana who have worked to reduce hunger and improve the nutritional status of Montanans. First Lady Nancy Schweitzer will present the awards during a ceremony at 1.00 pm on April 7, 2010 in the Capitol Rotunda in Helena.
Awards will be given to the following individuals:
- Stan and Mary Rathman of Choteau/Teton County Food Pantry, for 20 years of dedicated service to hungry people in their community.
- Valerie Addis of Missoula County Public Schools, for her dedicated effort in bringing the Back Pack program to Missoula schools and for her work in improving children’s health through the breakfast program in schools.
- Ann Waickman of Helena Food Share, for her goal of a hunger-free Helena and her creative idea to grow a productive garden on the Helena Food Share grounds for producing fresh vegetables throughout the summer.
- Dayle Hayes, Barbara Sample and Virginia Mermel of Billings, for their excellent work and commitment to increasing awareness to key people in their community on childhood hunger and creating community solutions to end Child Hunger in Yellowstone County.
- Sandi Smith of the Montana Office of Public Instruction in Helena, for her role in promoting the summer food service program to program managers of the 21st Century After School Programs.
- Jim and Joanne Cortese of the Butte Emergency Food Bank, for their years of dedicated service to the Butte Community as volunteer co-directors of the Butte Food Bank.
- Mike Strang of Beaverhead County – Lima and Dillon -- for promotion of monthly commodity food boxes for 60 seniors in Beaverhead county, promotion of the SNAP (food stamp program) and support of the Montana Food Bank Network’s advocacy work in these communities.
- Virginia Mermel of Billings, Billings Action for Healthy Kids, for her dedication to improving access to healthy food for children through multiple programs, including the Back Pack program and the Billings School Health Advisory Committee.
The following organization will be recognized:
- Ravalli County Council on Aging, Ravalli County, Hamilton, for their dedication and efforts to bring better nutrition through the senior programs in Ravalli County.
Special Food Security Council Awards:
- Representative Mary Caferro, Helena, for her untiring efforts to find funding for emergency food for Montana agencies in the 2009 Legislative session, which has resulted in increased access to healthy food for many Montanans.
- Senator Ryan Zinke, Whitefish, for moving the effort to fund emergency food through the Senate in the 2009 Legislative session, which has increased food access and better nutrition for many Montanans.
DPHHS Helps Partner Agencies Help Montanans
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (MTDPHHS) has partnered with the Montana Food Bank Network for many years to help provide food for low-income Montanans. Throughout 2009, MFBN’s partner food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, youth programs and residential treatment programs worked to meet the needs of a steadily increasing client base. Our reports show that these agencies experienced a 60% increase in the number of unduplicated households served between January 1, 2009 and December 2009. In order to meet this need, the MFBN distributed 7.3 million pounds of perishable and non-perishable foods to partner agencies, representing a 62% increase in food distribution for 2009. As staff of the MFBN traveled across the state in 2009 bearing witness to the effects of such an increase, we learned that many of our partners were struggling to transport and store such large quantities of food on a monthly basis. Our conclusion was that the partner agencies needed assistance building their infrastructure in terms of cold storage capacity and general equipment supplies. Thanks to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, our partner agencies now have the opportunity to increase their capacity to serve those in need.
Early last year the MTDPHHS provided funds for MFBN to purchase food. Realizing the need to provide basic infrastructure support as well MTDPHHS stepped up to provide $100,000 through the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Award to purchase equipment and supplies for these agencies. Fifty-Seven (57) partner agencies of the MFBN will receive equipment items such as shelving, freezers, refrigerators, pallet jacks, floor scales, service carts, tables for repackaging, computers and other office supplies to help improve their ability to assist more clients and provide more nutritious foods to hungry Montanans.
Not only has DPHHS provided funds for food and equipment, DPHHS Director Anna Whiting-Sorrell has asked her staff of 3,000 employees to participate in the Martin Luther King Day of Service on Monday, January 18th by volunteering in their local community. Many of MFBN’s partner agencies across the state are preparing to host MTDPHHS staff as volunteers on that day. To learn more about volunteer opportunities on MLK Day of Service, please visit www.serve.gov. Thanks to MTDPHHS for helping emergency food providers across the state provide more food and find the materials and people they need to better serve their clients and meet the needs of hungry families in our state.
The following agencies will receive equipment and supplies through this $100,000 grant:
Alberton Community Food Pantry, Alberton, MT
Billings Food Bank, Billings, MT
Boys & Girls Club of Missoula County, Missoula, MT
Boys and Girls Club of Richland County, Sidney, MT
Carter County Food Bank, Ekalaka, MT
Center Pole, Garryowen, MT
Central Montana Community Cupboard, Lewistown, MT
Church 29 Food Pantry, Kalispell, MT
Clark Fork City Foods, Missoula, MT
Community Food Bank of Mineral County, Superior, MT
Community Harvest Food Bank, Thompson Falls, MT
Community Hope, Laurel, MT
Community Services Fellowship, Inc., Noxon, MT
Dennis Radtke Home, Missoula, MT
Eureka Four Square Church Food Pantry, Eureka, MT
Face-to-Face Food Pantry, Maxville, MT
Family Service, Inc., Billings, MT
Gallatin Valley Food Bank, Bozeman, MT
Gardiner Food Pantry, Gardiner, MT
Havre Food Bank, Havre, MT
Headwaters Area Food Bank, Three Forks, MT
Helena Food Share, Helena, MT
Helping Hands in Hardin, Inc., Hardin, MT
Lewistown Boys and Girls Club, Lewistown, MT
Libby Senior Center, Libby, MT
Livingston Food Pantry, Livingston, MT
Loaves and Fish Pantry Inc., Polson, MT
Meagher County Nutrition Coalition, White Sulphur Springs, MT
Missoula Food Bank, Missoula, MT
Montana Youth Homes, Helena, MT
Musselshell County Food Bank, Roundup, MT
Noxon Senior Center, Noxon, MT
NW Montana Veterans Stand Down, Kalispell, MT
Open Gate Youth Ranch Group Home, Trout Creek, MT
Poverello Center, Inc., Missoula, MT
Project Hope, Columbus, MT
Spirit At Play, Missoula, MT
St. Vincent de Paul, Great Falls, MT
Superior Senior Citizen Center, Superior, MT
Teen Recovery Center, Missoula, MT
The Children's Center, Missoula, MT
The Salvation Army, Great Falls, MT
The Yaak Food Cupboard, Yaak, MT
Troy Community Baptist Church, Troy, MT
Troy Food Pantry, Troy, MT
Valley Community Food Bank, Glasgow, MT
Vineyard Christian Ministries Food Pantry, Great Falls, MT
Watson Children's Shelter, Missoula, MT
West Yellowstone Food Bank, West Yellowstone, MT
Western Montana Mental Health Center- West House, Hamilton, MT
Wolf Point Thrift Store & Food Bank, Wolf Point, MT
Hunger fighting coalition gets grant
Article: http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2010/01/06/news/news18.txt
by WILL MOSS - Ravalli Republic
A local organization devoted to fighting hunger has been awarded a mini-grant from the Montana Food Bank Network to pursue two projects aimed at increasing food access and education in the valley.
The Ravalli County GRASP Coalition (Growing Resources And Sustaining People) is slated to receive $1,000 from the network; funds that they will use to create and distribute a county-wide directory of food and social resources and develop an “edible schoolyard” program at Victor School.
The coalition is made up of local organizations and individuals with a shared interest in promoting proper nutrition and providing families access to food. GRASP members include: the Ravalli County Council on Aging, Sustainable Living Systems, Victor School, Ravalli Head Start, Bitterroot Food Co-operative, the Ravalli County MSU Extension office and others.
“We are mainly service agencies concerned with family welfare because poverty has a really insidious reach,” said Denelle Pappier, chairwoman of GRASP’s resource directory committee. “The most basic of needs have to be met before families can move on to other areas of importance, so [we’re trying to] put people in touch with how they can get their food needs met.”
Pappier said the coalition hopes to release the directory by this summer and will offer both digital and paper versions. The Montana Food Bank Network will host a Web site for the online version of the guide.
“We want to put links on as many Ravalli County agencies’ Web sites as possible .... So, there won’t be any confusion about where you go for information, because there will be information almost anywhere you look,” she said.
The coalition is currently seeking volunteers to assist in gathering and entering information on local agencies. Anyone interested in helping should contact Denelle Pappier at 363-1311.
The “edible schoolyard” project involves the planting of fruit trees and vegetables at Victor School and incorporating the production of food into students’ regular classroom curriculum.
“The edible schoolyard is kind of a major initiative happening in many communities around the country where the students’ regular school curriculum is taught using some hands-on material,” said Jill Davies, director of Sustainable Living Systems, who is helping implement the program. “There are a lot of curricula now using gardens to teach math, science, biology and all kinds of things. So, it makes it more of a realistic learning scenario rather than being abstract.”
Davies also noted that the program will help students become more aware of the resource issues surrounding food access.
“It also reconnects children to where their food comes from and gives them useful skills in life for growing their own food,” she said.
Teachers will be provided with manuals that instruct teachers on how to incorporate the garden into their lesson plans.
Eventually, Davies said, they’d like to expand the program through the summer and teach kids further skills like canning and pickling. They’d also like, some day, to see the food that the students harvest end up in school lunches, on family dinner tables and in local food banks.
For more information on the edible schoolyard, contact Davies at 642-3601.
According to a Montana Food Bank Network press release, the grant coincides with a recent United States Department of Agriculture report showing that hunger has increased in Montana. According to the report, 11 percent of Montanans are food insecure — struggling with hunger - and research has shown that the number of Montanans at risk of food insecurity to be much higher (as many as one in three).
GRASP is facilitated by the Montana Food bank Network, a state-wide nonprofit anti-hunger organization based in Missoula.
Log on to RavalliRepublic.com to comment on this and other stories.
Reporter Will Moss can be reached at 363-3300 or wmoss@ravallirepublic.com.
Our Neighbors’ Daily Bread
The Montana Food Bank Network is proud to announce the launch of a unique new grain donation project called the Our Neighbors’ Daily Bread Project. The project is a collaborative effort involving the Montana Food Bank Network, Montana’s farmers, the Montana Grain Growers Association, the Montana Grains Foundation, and participating grain elevators across the wheat growing regions of Montana. The project is specifically designed to provide the flour necessary to meet the needs of MFBN’s Partners Agencies across the state.
Any farmer who wants to donate grain or dollars to the project can do so by visiting with their local elevator manager and informing him of their gifting intentions. Over a hundred Montana grain elevators have received notice of the wheat-to-flour project and are ready to help.
When flour is needed, the Montana Food Bank Network will contact the Montana Grains
Foundation with an order. Corresponding bushels will be purchased, milled, bagged and loaded into the Montana Food Bank delivery trucks at a Great Falls flour mill. The pallets of donated flour will then be distributed to MFBN’s Partner Agencies across the state as needed.
Learn more about the project including how you can help on the Montana Grain Growers’ Website: http://www.mgga.org/ONDB/ONDBhome.html
In the news:
Montana Hunters Against Hunger
Listen to MFBN on MTPR! Our Hunters Against Hunger program was featured on the evening edition. To learn more about the program, visit mfbn.org. Or contact James at jdodge@mfbn.org
http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2009-11-04-132
http://umnewsmontana.blogspot.com/2009/10/hunters-for-hunger.html
Wild Game meat is a very important source of high-quality, cost effective protein for those in need. Montana Hunters Against Hunger is a program developed by the Montana Food Bank Network that arranges for hunters to donate their big game kill to provide meat for those in need. Hunting is such a big part of our culture here in Montana and so is helping our neighbors in their time of need so it is a perfect fit. We encourage those who enjoy hunting to buy an extra tag and hunt for the food bank.
Food banks prepare for holidays
Posted: Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009 - 11:49:06 am MST
Danielle Switalski
Families everywhere are putting their Halloween costumes back in the closet and looking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas. As the holiday season approaches, the food banks in Sanders County are preparing for an even higher increase in families coming to their doors for food.
The food banks have been struggling to keep food on their shelves as it flies off as quickly as it comes. The Montana Food Bank Network, which supplies Thompson Falls, Plains, Trout Creek and Hot Springs with their provisions have increased their food supplies to the county tremendously in the past few years. Reports show that the MT Food Bank Network has increased food distribution to Sanders County by 121% [pgrimes] comparing January to October 2008 to the same months in 2009.
According to Peggy Grimes, Executive Director of the MT Food Bank Network, in 2008 they provided Sanders County with 128,994 pounds of food and this year they have provided 285,153 pounds of food. These numbers do not include the months of November and December.
Plains Assembly of God food bank received 63,208 pounds of food in 2008 between January and October, this year they have received 123,210 pounds of food.
Grimes said in years past, the MT Food Bank Network brought food to Sanders County as part of a full truck distribution from Superior to Noxon. This year, due to the increased need for food, the route had to be split into two separate routes, one from Superior to Plains and another from Plains to Noxon. This is in direct correlation with the increased need for food.
So how are the food banks preparing for an even bigger increase in need as the holidays approach?
To start, the MT Food Bank Network went to the State[pgrimes] Legislature for support for their program, which provided $1.5 million dollars[pgrimes] a year for the next two years to help with food purchases. The MT Food Bank Network also started doing a Mobile Pantry Program by distributing food to people who need it, instead of having people come to the food banks. The Mobile Pantry Program means volunteers find a place in the community and bring a truckload of food to a particular location and simply hand it out.
“People are willing to stand in line for two to three hours for food, so we know they need it, no one is going to wait in line that long if they don’t need food,” said Grimes.
The Food Bank Network is trying to get supplies out to all of the food banks throughout the state by November 20 so no one goes hungry for the holidays.
As for the local food banks, Thompson Falls has been keeping afloat because of the MT Food Bank Network and through donations. This year they had received a $5,000 donation from a local business.
“We’re doing well financially, fortunately and we are going through a lot of money, there’s no question about it, and whether or not our economy is going to do us in or not is another story,” said President of the Thompson Falls food bank, Denny Pargeter.
Pargeter spends much of his time shopping around to find the lowest food prices to keep the shelves stocked.
The Town Pump is currently holding their 8th annual food bank fundraiser and will match up to $2000 collected from September 1 through November 30 for both the Thompson Falls and Noxon food banks, totaling $4,000 in matching gift funds, which help the food banks get through the holiday season.
Pargeter said they will do the best they can to feed every family that comes through their door during the holidays. The local churches also help out families by supplying them with turkeys each year.
Plains food bank has been staying strong through the economic hard times. They rely heavily on fund raisers done by the churches and local Cub Scouts group as they buy half of their food every month, with the other half coming in from the MT Food Bank Network, said head of the Plains food bank, Shannon Allen. The Cub Scouts fund raiser is the biggest one of the year for the Plains Food Bank.
The Plains town pump is also doing its own matching fund raiser and will match up to $3000 raised by the food bank.
As for the holidays, Allen is confident they will have enough food for any family that comes through their door. Although she does not think they will have turkeys for the families over the holidays, they will have enough food to provide to people.
The Plains food bank serves around 150 to 200 families every month, a significant increase, said Allen, from past years.
The Plains food bank is located at the Assembly of God church and is open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Questions or comments on this story can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by emailing her at reporter@VP-MI.com or by calling her at 826-3434
http://www.vp-mi.com/articles/2009/11/04/local_news/doc4af1c1c8352069497...
Poverty expanding in Montana
The number of Montanans falling on hard times continues to grow, with new numbers showing that 139,000 state residents lived in poverty last year, and Montana now ranked 13th of the highest incidents of poverty in the nation.
We spoke with the Director of Public Policy at the Montana Food Bank to learn more about the increase in poverty, and what can be done to combat it.
Poverty is hitting Montana hard, and children are baring the brunt of it as there are currently 45,000 kids in the state living in poverty.
While there are special food programs to help these children, with the economy the way it is, officials say more needs to be done.
The Montana Food Bank, which supplies 200 emergency food agencies throughout the state and since the recession took hold, the bank has seen more and more people needing food.
"The increase of poverty and the high numbers of poverty in Montana are a clear indication that we need strong public food programs" explained Director of Public Policy Kate Bradford. "The Emergency Food System has been working as hard as we can to meet that need, and it's a struggle. We keep seeing it go up and up and, to have their support of the Federal Nutrition Programs would really benefit those in poverty in the state."
Bradford added that the U.S. Congress is about to reauthorize the Child Nutrition program, which is done every five years. She also hopes that federal lawmakers will add more funding to the program.
- Allyson Weller reporting from KPAX inMissoula