Whitefish philanthropist Mike Goguen has put the finishing touch on a fundraising campaign for a new North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish.

On Saturday, Goguen will present a check for $500,000 that completes the $1.5 million campaign for the new building under construction plus an endowment fund to keep the food bank operating in perpetuity.

His donation adds to more than $1 million in cash, pledges and in-kind donations raised by a committee chaired by Whitefish Glacier Bank President Lin Akey and  Whitefish Credit Union President Jim Kenyon.

Longtime Food Bank Director June Munski-Feenan is ecstatic about Goguen’s generosity.

“We have some good fundraisers in Whitefish, I’ll tell you,” she said, lauding Akey and Kenyon for leading the campaign. “They just kept pounding away at it.”

Munski-Feenan also is excited to meet Goguen for the first time.

“He wants to meet me, too,” she said.

Goguen has been a big contributor to numerous projects in Whitefish over the past few years, including donating several million dollars to the Whitefish Trail project.

North Valley Food Bank broke ground in April on a new 4,748-square-foot distribution center off Baker Avenue near The Wave fitness center. It will include several new and upgraded features such as an enlarged meat processing center, commercial meat grinder, covered outdoor waiting area, more freezer and cooler capacity and storage for buying food by the pallet rather than by the pound.

The new facility should open later this year.

After 26 years in its current First Street location — an older home that’s been expanded three times over the years — the independent food bank has outgrown its quarters.

Munski-Feenan has been involved with feeding the hungry in Whitefish since the late 1970s.

Munski-Feenan said other large donations may be forthcoming, too. If there’s money to spare once the endowment fund is secured, she said she would like to have the organization purchase a lot adjacent to the new food bank for future space for a garage to house food-bank delivery vehicles.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.