BOZEMAN — Hundreds of thousands of donated goods turned into thousands of meals for hungry families in Gallatin County this Thanksgiving, thanks to the annual Can the Griz food drive.
“It really blows me away that in two weeks our community can generate so much,” said Jill Holder, HRDC’s food and nutrition director.
The Gallatin County Food Bank, operated by the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), organizes the local effort. The off-field competition runs for two weeks leading up to the annual Brawl of the Wild.
See how your Can the Griz donations turned into 1,000 Thanksgiving meals for Gallatin County families
“Well, I have to say last year, our highest year was 654,000 pounds and dollars, and we felt amazing about that,” said Holder.
But when Holder tallied the numbers this year, she was astonished.
“We ended up gathering—with pounds and dollars—1,018,000 and then some. So, a pretty incredible outpouring,” she said.
Despite Gallatin County’s record-breaking total, Missoula came out ahead in the rivalry, collecting more than 1,091,000 in pounds and dollars.
“I mean, it’s a competition—it’s a friendly rivalry—and it can do so much good for our communities,” Holder said. “Because together, our communities ended up with over $2 million pounds of food and dollars.”
In Gallatin County, all of those donations went straight to work feeding people for Thanksgiving.
“Here is a Thanksgiving box,” a Holder showed me. “We have stuffing, we’ve got everything! We’ve got cranberries, green beans, and sweet potatoes.”
Since Sunday, HRDC has given away almost 1,000 free Thanksgiving boxes, each including everything needed for a full Thanksgiving dinner—from pie all the way down to the turkey.
And speaking of turkey, the food bank received many of those for the holiday season.
“As of the 22nd, we were at 1,424,” said Holder.
While that number may seem high, it’s not unusual for the Gallatin County Food Bank, which serves an average of 2,000 households every month.
That’s why participation in programs like Can the Griz is so vital, Holder said. Even though HRDC stopped distributing Thanksgiving boxes on Wednesday, free meals are still available. Miracle at Midtown will take place at Bourbon, a local restaurant, on Thursday from noon to 3 p.m.
“It’s great that the community believes in our work, gives us donations to do that work,” Holder said. “And it’s great that nobody gets left behind and nobody has to go to bed hungry.”
