GREAT FALLS — The homeless population in Great Falls is growing, and some of the underlying causes include poverty, increased housing costs, and sometimes addiction.
Mental health issues also contribute to this rising number. While helping hands can't often help with mental health or housing directly, they do help in other ways.
Carrie Parker, president of Helping Hands, explained, “People have told me this this food helps them to be able to pay their rent. Because if you've gone to the grocery store lately, it's just outrageous. So we're taking that burden off of people at least a little bit.”
Feeding about 1250 people a month - that's 35 tons of food a year - Helping Hands is doing a lot to help with the community.
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She continued, “We need to just see each other and recognize that we're all in this together. Their problem is our problem, you know? And our problems with them are their problem. We have a healthier community, a better community, a more stable community, a safer community when we all jump in to try to solve this problem.”
If you or someone that you know might need this kind of assistance, you can go to Helping Hands. Saturday 1 to 3. They help with food, clothing, and finding resources as well as offering a short escape from the brutal winter cold.
Helping Hands is located at the old First English Lutheran Church at 726 Second Avenue North in Great Falls.
For more information about Helping Hands, call 406-453-9551, or click here.
APRIL 6, 2024
