Local food pantries seek donations to meet Town Pump challenge

Two Mission Valley food pantries are participating in this year’s Town Pump Charitable Foundation challenge, ““Be a Friend in Deed, Help Those in Need.”

Beginning Sept. 1 and continuing through Nov. 30, the foundation will match every dollar raised by participating pantries – up to $15,000 for Polson Loaves and Fish and up to $11,000 for the Ronan Bread Basket.

The Town Pump Foundation campaign annually offers these challenge grants to 125 food banks across Montana, with amounts based on the organization’s size and volume of food they distribute.

According to director Heather Fors, Loaves and Fishes serves approximately 325 families monthly, representing more than 1,100 individuals, and distributes more than 26,000 pounds of food each month.

Leah Emerson, who chairs the Bread Basket’s board of directors, said the Ronan pantry serves between 150 and 200 families per month “with that number varying widely according to season and current economic pressures.”

In 2025, 2,204 visits were made to the pantry, which distributed 153,247 pounds of food.

Fors noted that the cost of basic foods, including meat, vegetables, milk and eggs, has increased significantly in recent years. That factor, compounded by increases in housing and transportation costs, means many families “are struggling to make ends meet … and food pantries everywhere are facing the same challenge: how do we continue providing nutritious food to those in need?” she wrote in a press release.

The challenge grants offered by Town Pump “give our communities an incredible opportunity to make every donation go twice as far,” she added, by doubling pantries’ buying power.

In Polson, monetary donations may be dropped off at the pantry or mailed to Polson Loaves and Fish Pantry, 904 1st St. E., Polson, MT 59860.

In Ronan, community members can donate directly at the food bank, 10 6th Ave. SW; mail a donation to P.O. Box 346, Ronan, MT, 59864; or visit the website, ronanbreadbasket.org, and select the secure donate button at the bottom of the page.

“Together, we can help ensure that our neighbors have access to nutritious food and that no one in our community has to face hunger alone,” said Fors.