GREAT FALLS — First Interstate Bank and the Great Falls Community Food Bank have partnered again for the annual Great Falls Public Schools food pantry drive.
The food pantry drive kicked off on Tuesday, October 15th and will run until Friday, October 25th.
“You know, we've been involved in supporting the food bank for a lot of years, and probably 7 or 8 years ago, we decided to do something for the school pantries because the school started up their pantries not that long ago,” said Kyle Herda, president of First Interstate Bank Great Falls market.
The school pantries throughout Great Falls are fairly low on food for this time of year.
“The annual food drive done by First Interstate Bank is huge for us and for the schools. You know, coming at this time of year, it replenishes the school's pantries, and, of course, the pantries are down from the summer, and it also just provides a lot of variety. You know, we buy a lot of the food here at the food bank, but what a food drive does is it gives us variety,” explained Shaun Tatarka, executive director of the Great Falls Community Food Bank.
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“It's amazing how many kids don't have what they need, whether it's at home at night or in the morning for breakfast, and if they aren't getting the nutrition they need and the food and they're sitting in class hungry, they can't concentrate and learn, so it’s just important to us,” Herda explained.
According to Feeding America, about 40,000 children in Montana struggle with food insecurity. The Great Falls Community Food Bank and First Interstate Bank are dedicated to helping reduce hunger in Montana.
“One of our original founders of the bank always said if you take care of your communities and your communities are strong, the bank businesses will be strong and everybody will be better together. And so we've continued that throughout First Interstate Bank as we've grown and gotten bigger,” said Herda.
Over the years, First Interstate Bank has assisted the Great Falls Community Food Bank with collecting thousands of pounds of donations each year, as a way to give back to the community.
Tatarka added, “They also have donated a very large amount of sums over the last, really over the last 10 or 15 years, so it's just been a wonderful partnership. First Interstate Bank is an excellent food bank partner.”
From now until Friday, the 25th, non-perishable food and toiletry donations can be taken to any of the First Interstate Bank locations in Great Falls. First Interstate Bank will take the collection to the food bank to be distributed to each of the schools later.
