Food insecurity is an ongoing problem that has been exacerbated in recent months by the high cost of gas and other household items. Making sure that children in the Stevensville community don’t go home hungry is the goal of the Stevi Food Program which has been operating continuously since it first started last summer.
The program was initially started to provide easy-to-prepare take-home meals for students during the summer months when school is out. Last summer over 700 weekly supplemental meals were handed out, said Fran Schmitz, who stepped up to organize the summer program when she found out that no one was doing this. In all, she has raised about $12,000 in cash donations plus several tons of food. Project 59870 and the Rapp Foundation have provided support to the program. Schmitz and a team of volunteers spent many hours preparing and distributing the bagged meals.
Schmitz soon realized that the need doesn’t end when school starts. She’s been coordinating with Lee Starck, a school counselor who runs the Stevensville Kids Backpack and Pantry Program in the Stevensville School District.
“We’re currently supplying about 30 breakfast/snack bags to the Stevensville School District weekly as well as helping to supplement the Backpack Program on extended breaks for about 30 students,” said Schmitz this week. “We also provide weekend meals to students at Head Start and Bitterroot Valley Education Co-op. Since September we have handed out about over 200 breakfast/snack bags and about 140 weekend bags. Those numbers are growing every week.”
An effort is underway to help raise funds to make sure these programs continue. All the proceeds from the Parade of Trees online auction sponsored by A2Z Personnel and Project 59870 on Dec. 6-9 will go to the Stevensville School Backpack and Pantry Program and the Stevi Food Program (for auction details see ad on page 8).
Food donations can currently be dropped off at First Security Bank in Stevensville. Useful items include: Chef Boyardee microwave cups or regular size; mac & cheese microwave bowls or Easy Mac; 100% juice boxes or pouches; fruit cups with no added sugar; applesauce cups or pouches with no added sugar; GoGo Breakfast Smoothie pouches; individual packs of plain oatmeal; individual packs of Goldfish crackers; microwave popcorn; individual packs of nuts. Food donations will also be collected at the Stevensville Booster Club Bazaar in the high school gym on Saturday, December 10th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cash donations can be made at Farmers State Bank in Stevensville; the account is under Stevi Food Program/Fran Schmitz. Tax-deductible donations can also be made to Project 59870, P.O. Box 8, Stevensville MT 59870; put “Stevi Food Program” in the memo.
For more information contact Fran Schmitz by email at franniela70@gmail.com or 406-777-3579 or 225-304-3947.