At the beginning June and a few friends collected only bread, fresh produce and limited amounts of canned goods and made them available for people to come by to pick up out of June’s garage. The Whitefish Food Bank, as it was then called, began receiving increased donations. They started working with Flathead County Surplus Food Bank in Kalispell to address the situation June and her friends believed was a real problem: being unable to provide hunger assistance to Flathead Valley residents in need. Whitefish Food Bank continued accumulating donations, pooled with Kalispell’s resources and divided them up for distribution to individuals across the valley.

It eventually became necessary to move beyond June’s garage. Through the efforts of several generous individuals, a 22’ x 32’ residence (which had to be moved but had no destination), was donated to the Food Bank in the summer of 1985. That autumn it was placed along Lupfer Avenue and 1st Street on a portion of parcels of property owned by the Soroptimist Club of Whitefish. Almost immediately, the 700 sq. ft. building was too small. An addition was made to accommodate a walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer and office. Later, another addition was created for canned good storage.

A few years later, the rear of the building was extended to accommodate additional chest freezers and sinks for cleaning produce. Although more land and space were acquired, growing the space to 3,000 square feet, the food bank eventually outgrew that space and a new, larger building was built through funding made available by a few dedicated Whitefish philanthropists. Now, the food bank is at 251 Flathead Avenue, near the police and fire station.

The physical structure was not the only thing that grew over the years with the Food Bank.  Initially, June and one friend had done all the collecting and distributing of the food. By 1985, there were eight to ten volunteers helping with chores which included at least two and sometimes three food distributions a week. It soon became apparent that a specific day for the distribution of the boxes and bags of groceries would need to be designated in order to keep the collections and distributions organized (and to keep from exhausting our volunteers). Thursday became that day in 1988 and has remained so over the years.

Currently, an average of 80 unpaid volunteers donate their time throughout the week. Nowadays, food distribution takes place every Wednesday and Thursday, and deliveries for homebound individuals are made every Friday morning. Mobile pantries travel to Essex, Trego, and Olney. We also deliver food to small rural pantries in Yaak, Troy, Libby, Eureka, and Browning.

Changes to the organizational structure of the food bank also became necessary over the years.  It was decided in 1988 that the Whitefish Food Bank should become an independent entity and the organization was incorporated as the North Valley Food Bank, Inc. (NVFB) that July.  In August 1990, the corporation became a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Currently, there are twelve volunteers serving on the Board of Directors of NVFB.  A small staff and a large number of volunteers keep NVFB running on a daily basis.