Libby residents, Rosauers 'Help Bag Hunger' here

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” 

?— Anne Frank,

 “Diary of Anne Frank”

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Pat yourself on the back, Libby. 

Because of your generous contributions through Rosauers’ “Help Bag Hunger” program, the Libby Food Pantry shelves look a little less bare after a holiday season that saw food-aid requests unlike anything previously.

The annual program, which keeps donated food right here in Libby, runs from Nov. 1 through the end of December. 

According to Rosauers Service Manager Raelene Hayden, who has been the local program chairwoman for seven years, 536 shoppers contributed $6,500 worth of food. Rosauers added another $10,000 as a cash gift.

The program works like this: At checkout, Rosauers customers are asked to purchase either a $10 or $15 bag of groceries for the food pantry. The $10 bags consist of varying amounts of stable food products — nonperishable items — such as peanut butter, Italian mac and cheese, a can of tuna, corn-muffin mix, mashed potatoes, Italian pasta, apple sauce and Libby green beans, among other items.

The $15 bag consists of mostly the same, only multiples of some items.

And Libby residents stepped up big-time to help those less fortunate.

“I just can’t believe how generous our customers are,” Hayden said. “Truly, they are so very gracious.”

Hayden said one woman, a regular shopper “who has four children and another one on the way,” twice contributed to the program during its two months.

“These are just regular people, regular customers. It seems the people who really need the extra food the most are the ones who give,” Hayden said of Clarissa Haugen, the expectant mother who she witnessed twice contributing.

“How can we say enough about those kind of people,” she said.

That’s the way Food Pantry Director Kathy Lauer summed up the gifts of food, too.

“It’s just amazing,” Lauer said. “Libby people are very generous, from those who give to those who volunteer here so we can do this. It’s because of efforts like this that we can stay open.”

In November, Libby Food Pantry provided food for 248 households, serving 540 people.

“In November, our numbers were way up,” Lauer said.

For the last quarter of 2012, the Food Pantry spent about $21,000 on food purchases.

“We run this on donations,” Lauer said. “The cash is good, and we use that to buy things that are not contributed, but most of our food comes from donations. That’s how we get by.”

In that vein, Lauer said the final quarter of the year was a little more difficult than most.

While the demands for food have increased, she said there were fewer food drives.

“I don’t know why that was. It just happened,” Lauer said.

Still, when the demand is there, she said, there are groups, such as Rosauers, that step up and make it happen.

“It’s just amazing. Somehow, we always get it done, even with increasing demand,” Lauer said.

And, that’s the reason Hayden keeps chairing the “Help Bag Hunger” program.

“It’s very rewarding,” Hayden said.

(Alan Lewis Gerstenecker is editor of The Western News. His column appears weekly.)