The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $1.3 million to a food bank in Helena, Montana, to help aid the creation and construction of a new state-of-the-art facility, which opened to the public Tuesday, Oct. 15.
The Church was one of 800 individual and organizational donors whose contributions helped to build the $12 million building. The new facility features a commercial kitchen, an expanded warehouse, cold-storage spaces, prep areas, a cooking classroom and offices.
Plans to build a new facility began years ago. The Helena Food Share has seen a 2,600% increase in food services in the last two decades, and now, with the opening of the new facility, the food bank can accommodate those in need within a 90-mile radius.
When it came to designing the new building, bishops’ storehouses of the Church of Jesus Christ served as inspiration.
“Going to the bishops’ storehouse was one of those field trips that we took [to learn] what we needed and wanted to be able to provide here in this community,” said Helena Food Share executive director Bruce Day. “And so certainly, we gained some insight from that definitely in terms of how our kitchen is set up and [also] our warehouse [and] our cold storage.”
The food selection area — also known as the Market — is one of the areas in the facility modeled after a bishops’ storehouse. Set up like a local grocery store, the Market is a dignified way for those in need to select needed food items, such as produce, dairy products, bakery goods, canned goods and snacks.
The Church’s donation was also crucial in the building of a fully equipped commercial kitchen, capable of producing large quantities of prepped foods such as soups, breads and cookies.
“[The Church] made this kitchen,” said Kim Dale, the Helena Food Share program operations director. “This was the game changer. … This is the part of the building for us that takes us into the future.”
“This is just going to be life-changing for the amount of food we can use instead of wasting it,” said Sally Beck, kitchen manager for Helena Food Share.
The $1.3 million donation will assist the Helena food bank in many additional ways, including:
- A 20% increase in outreach after the first year of operation, serving 4,740 households and 9,960 individuals.
- A 25% increase in food distribution within the first year — some 1.1 million pounds.
- A 104% increase in warehouse space — from 2,100 square feet to 4,300 square feet.
- A 400% increase in cold-storage space — from 240 square feet to 1,200 square feet.
The collaboration between the Church of Jesus Christ and the Helena Food Banks dates back 20 years. Members of the Church have volunteered service hours and hosted collection drives.
“We wholeheartedly support the Helena Food Share’s mission to serve our neighbors in their time of need,” said President James B. Stanger, first counselor in the Helena Montana Stake presidency. “[We collaborate in this work] because of our love of Jesus Christ. We know that He would do that if He were here.”