Popular food distribution program renewed

The line outside the Libby Assembly of God started to form an hour before dawn on Oct. 28. By 10:30 a.m., when volunteers with Lincoln County Food Box Distribution began doling out meal crates, rows of cars parked bumper-to-bumper filled the lot.

For 1,456 families throughout the county, the roughly weekly food drive has served as a lifeline during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ada Westlake, a Libby resident who suffered a heart attack last week, said she had depended on the meal boxes to get through the month.

“I get to the point where I don’t get [many] food stamps and all my money goes out on bills,” she said.

A few cars down, Debbie Switzer, who came to pick up meals for the Western Montana Mental Health Center, said the drive has proven critical for many patients.

“[One patient] does not have a vehicle,” said Switzer. “They are pretty dependent on the food boxes.”

The local food drive is part of a national distribution network that the U.S. Department of Agriculture initiated in May in response to the pandemic and subsequent economic disruption. Federal officials earmarked up to $4 billion to purchase fresh produce, dairy and meat products from American producers as part of the Farmers to Families program. The program has since delivered over 110 million boxes of food.

Roxanna Escudero, one of the volunteer organizers of the Lincoln County drive, said she joined the group in September after hearing one of the former leaders of the program was planning to step down.

“I grew up here and I know how much we need food and how much it helps our community,” she said. “So I said ‘Nope, we’re still going to do it.’”

According to a five-year survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau between 2014 and 2018, 18.5 percent of Lincoln County residents lived below the poverty line.

After working together for months, the volunteers at the Oct. 28 drive had food distribution down to a science. At around 9:30 a.m., a double-trailer semi-truck from Billings pulled into the church parking lot laden with the over 6,000 food boxes. Within an hour, the volunteers had unloaded the meals with a forklift and partitioned a portion of the pile between cars bound for deliveries in Troy, the Yaak and West Kootenai.

When volunteers allowed residents in from the parking lot, crews worked on either side of food stacks, each serving two cars at a time. By 11:30 a.m., the line had dwindled to a handful of cars and the box plies, which had stood at over six feet when unloaded, were shin-high.

Despite the efforts of Escudero and the other volunteers to keep the program going, the distribution event was almost terminated at the end of October. Up until a week ago, federal funding for the Farmers to Families Program was set to expire at the end of the month. On Oct. 23, however, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the USDA would be organizing a $500 million round of purchasing that would allow deliveries to continue until Dec. 31.

With winter fast approaching, the extension gave hope to many of those who came to the Oct. 28 event.

“Thank God,” said James Williams, a Libby resident, in response to the new round of funding. “It’s miraculous.”

Escudero recommended that those interested in receiving food from Lincoln County Food Box Distribution keep an eye on the group’s Facebook page. Pickup times can vary based on the arrival of the delivery truck. While residents do not have to sign up for the event, organizers ask that they provide the names and addresses of any friends or family members they pick up for.