Bragging On Our Community

Fellowship Food Bank gives away food six days a week. This constitutes thousands of pounds of food to hundreds of hungry Richland County residents. Our greatest need (usually) is frozen beef and non-perishable food items. However, we made the conscious choice in 2008 (when we started) not to fundraise in the community so this can remain our gift to the community and not compete with other charitable organizations.

The chief difference between our food bank, and the county food bank, is that (A) we don’t ask for donations, as explained above (B) we serve food every day (C) we make deliveries to the house bound and elderly if necessary and (D) we don’t require certain things to help, like in-county residency or limitations on frequency of use.

One other difference, I suppose, is that although we don’t preach or proselytize to those who need food, we slip in a Bible with their food (without a word spoken) and our volunteers wear a name-tag that reads, “How can I pray for you?” We help everyone without discrimination of any kind, including lifestyle choices, color, creed, address, or religion.

Meanwhile, every police officer or deputy, mental health worker, social worker, or pastor of any church is welcome to use our pantry whenever they need it to help others (all you have to do is receive a 30-minute training on how to let yourself in and out of the pantry, etc). You can call 406-433-4004 to set up a time to learn how to utilize our pantry yourself to help those under your care.

However, being low on beef, I recently approached Steve Lunderby and asked if he had any beef he could sell us at a discount. Instead, Lunderby gave us the beef to feed the hungry. And he gave us more than our many freezers could hold. We passed some of that along to ROI and Eastern Montana Bible Camp (what we could not fit). That beef happened to be processed at M3 Meats, and all we had to do was pay for the butchering.

However, when we went to M3, they refused to charge us for their work, as a part of their own service to the community. With every freezer full, we passed some of that along to adoptive and foster parents to help feed their families.

I want to thank Lunderby and M3 for their extreme generosity, and to the entire Sidney Community for letting us serve the hungry. As the Fellowship Baptist Church, it is our blessing and honor to help the unfortunate who, from time to time, need a hand-up.

Also deserving special thanks in this effort is Reynolds Market, for letting us be a part of the Friends of Reynolds Program, who provides a small return to our food bank when our church members use a special code when checking out our groceries. It’s not that much, but every bit helps.

Thank you, Sidney, for helping us help others. Bless you all.

Jordan Hall, Sidney