Family Shelter of the Bitterroot Community Meals Program
by Gary Locke
In November 2008, while helping Samaritan’s Purse with disaster relief clean up in Galveston, TX after Hurricane Ike, I witnessed the profound impact of faith in action. After each home clean-up was completed, us “gray shirts” had a prayer circle and gave each family a new Bible along with a short Gospel lesson. Many came to faith in the Lord. Meanwhile, Samaritan’s Purse had 6-10 pastors in “blue shirts” who were serving coffee at the Salvation Army’s 1,500 free dinners per night location. Their opening line was, “How can I pray for you today?” and there were over 1,600 new souls added to the Lord’s Kingdom during the same time! This planted a seed in me for helping to feed, clothe and shelter those in need in our own community.
One day in July 2013, three different single moms with multiple children called to ask for food, one had only saved a box of Jello for her youngest’s birthday! I realized that it was time to start a free meal program and contacted some of the local pastors. Pastor Ted Jolley at Cornerstone Bible Church offered free use of their kitchen/dining room so I contacted the other churches and recruited volunteer kitchen teams to operate at least four days each week.
Gary Locke, Director, Family Shelter of the Bitterroot. Star file photo.
We served our first free meal on October 3, 2013, to one homeless man who rode in on his bicycle and a single janitor. During just the last eight years, we have served over 10,000 meals annually and 13,440 meals this past year alone! We try to keep the cost below $3.00 per meal and spend about $900 per week, needing more than $40,000 annually to keep going. A huge thank you to Super One for their awesome weekly food donations and to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Charitable Foundation for their very generous monetary donations; our community genuinely cares about lending a helping hand to people in our valley.
Tim Schoch, our Community Meals Program Director, coordinates all the kitchen teams, buys the food needed, and stocks and manages our storehouse in addition to being the head cook for the Hamilton Assembly of God team every Wednesday. The Community Meals Program is now hosted at four church locations at 5pm — Bitterroot Nazarene Church in Victor (Mondays), Cornerstone Bible Church (Tuesdays), Hamilton Assembly of God (Wednesdays), and St. Francis of Assisi (Thursdays).
The amazing Town Pump Charitable Foundation will graciously match the monetary donations given between September 1st and November 30th up to $7,500 this year! Please help keep our Community Meals Program going! Send your monetary donations to The Family Shelter of the Bitterroot, P.O. Box 656, Hamilton, MT 59840.
Thank you all very much and God bless!
Gary Locke, 406-239-8833