Hecla Charitable Foundation donates to local food banks, emergency services amid COVID-19 pandemic
Local food banks hit hard by a surge in demand from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis got a boost from Hecla Mining in recent weeks.
Recently, staff at the Hecla Charitable Foundation pondered how the organization might help out as regional communities struggled to cope with COVID-19, said Jeralyn Jones of Montanore Minerals, a Hecla Mining company. The foundation responded by donating money to food banks in Libby, Troy and Noxon.
It also gave $1,000 to the Libby Volunteer Ambulance.
The Hecla Charitable Foundation was established in 2007 to provide grants and donate money for education and charitable purposes to 501 (c)(3) organizations. According to the foundation, it focuses efforts in four areas: education, community programs, youth activities and health services.
The Hecla Charitable Foundation reports that it has contributed more than $3.3 million to rural communities since 2009. Recipients have been in communities where Hecla Mining operates, primarily in Idaho, Alaska, Colorado, Canada, Nevada and Montana.
In Lincoln and Sanders counties, where Hecla has the Montanore, Rock Creek and Troy Mine projects, the company’s foundation has contributed to a host of youth activities, including American Legion baseball and high school graduating classes. It has donated money also to the CARD Clinic and to the Cabinet Peaks Medical Center Foundation, to Ducks Unlimited, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and more.
Hecla Mining Co. hopes to someday mine copper and silver ore beneath the Cabinet Mountains. That quest faces a host of regulatory and environmental challenges.
As the Idaho-based company continues that pursuit it simultaneously strives to build and maintain goodwill in the communities near its projects, both existing and proposed. In Montana, those communities include Libby, Troy, Trout Creek, Noxon, Thompson Falls and Plains.
