The “Stand Down” Saturday and Sunday at

the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1548 in Libby has the distinction

of being the largest in the country, according to organizers.

“We had 1,587 veterans attend,” said

Linda Erickson, who runs the Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry

in Kalispell. “We usually have right at 1,600, so we were right

there.”

The Food Pantry, located at 1349 U.S.

Route 2 East in Kalispell serves hundreds of veterans each week.

Erickson is the wife of Allen W. Erickson, who founded the

Northwest Montana Veterans Stand Down in 2000.

Stand down is a military term used to

define a period when combat troops were allowed to “stand down”

from the rigors of constant alert status and the hardships of

battle.

Erickson said the term is a fitting

description that defines the homeless, at-risk and low-income

programs for veterans.

“We’ve helped 142 homeless veterans and

their families this year,” Erickson said. “They say for every one

homeless veteran we help there are 10 more just like him out in the

woods. Literally, out there in the woods around here,” Erickson

said. “In the National Forest here and in the Yaak.”

Erickson said the annual Stand Down in

Libby attracts veterans from several states.

“At the Libby Stand Down, we get

veterans from Montana, of course, but we also see vets from

northern Idaho and eastern Washington. We even had one show up from

Indiana,” Erickson said.

Few events are seldom everything for

everyone, but the Stand Downs come as close as anything.

Not only can veterans get quality U.S.

Army surplus items, but doctors are brought in, food is served and

veterans can even get a haircut, as many did by any of the three

barbers who donated their time in Libby.

“We can make this thing work without

volunteers,” Erickson said. “We had about 260 volunteers total,

many of whom help even before the event. On Saturday, we had 104

on-site and then on Sunday there were another 75. It takes a lot of

volunteers to put this together.”

Erickson thanked the local agencies

that donated items for the Libby Stand Down, specifically

mentioning Rosauers, Stein Family Market in Troy Empire Foods,

Kootenai Disposal, Pepsi-Cola in Kalispell, Cravens Coffee and

members of the Libby VFW Post 1548 Auxiliary who worked throughout

the weekend.

“Everyone was just terrific,” Erickson

said. “We had the VA Medical Mobile Clinic out of Spokane on hand

to treat veterans who needed it.”