by John Dowd
Last Friday morning the Bitter Root Back Country Horsemen (BRBCH) were loading up holiday dinner boxes for Pantry Partners. The event is an annual service the group does for the local food bank, which they have been doing for over 40 years.
Barb Walker, vice president and a board member with the BRBCH, spoke about their partnership. “It’s one of our favorite things to do,” said Walker. Lots of help shows up, and it is one of the group’s most attended events by group members.
Pantry Partners supplies the canned food and nonperishables BRBCH puts into the boxes. A member of the group – this year it was Walker – drives over to the food bank to pick up the food items in a horse trailer. The items are then brought to the Stevensville Rural Fire Department, on the west side of town. The group then creates an assembly line, where they load the boxes.
Bitter Root Back Country Horsemen prepare boxes to be loaded with non-perishable goods. Photo by John Dowd.
Each box got one of each item, and there were 19 total nonperishable items. These included things like cake mix, gravy, canned vegetables, canned soup, marshmallows, hot cocoa, candy and more.
Someone from Pantry Partners also included yarn ornaments to go into each box. Shari Kastenholz, board member and secretary for Pantry Partners, said that once all the boxes are filled, they are brought back to Pantry Partners, where they are made ready for food bank clients to pick them up.
Each box recipient can also choose a protein, with options like ham, turkey or pork loin. They will also receive other perishables from Pantry Partners, such as margarine, fresh fruits and vegetables and more.
Clients can pick up their boxes any time after December 1, whenever the pantry is open.
Kastenholz said the pantry really appreciates what the BRBCH does. “It’s just an enormous amount of time,” said Kastenholz, speaking of how long it takes to pack the boxes. “It’s a great service.”
Kastenholz said the pantry collects the nonperishables throughout the year, from donations they receive. They also purchase things they don’t have enough of, to make sure they can fill every box the same. “We’re just very thankful for the huge donations, both monetarily and products we’ve been getting recently,” said Kastenholz.
Bitter Root Back Country Horsemen loading canned goods into holiday boxes for Pantry Partners. Photo by John Dowd.
According to Walker, it usually takes the BRBCH volunteers a couple hours to fill and return all the boxes to Pantry Partners. She also said they did nearly 250 boxes this year.
The program started when Lee Scharf, known for his work with the Ravalli County Search and Rescue, connected the two groups, according to Carl Philips, a member and former group president.
When members were asked why they do this, Walker said, “Part of our mission is to help the community,” and she added that this partnership is a part of that. Philips said, “Why wouldn’t you? It’s a fun activity.” Walker’s sister, Sam Ristad, another group member, and co-organizer of this year’s event, said, “It’s something I think is needed… It’s kind of like a bonding experience.”
They all also added that it has become a tradition, which they hold to every year, and it is part of their holiday happenings. They do this for the North Valley, and for the southern part they hold a meeting where they collect money into a hat for Haven House food bank.
The BRBCH will be turning 50 years old next spring. The group is the third chapter created in the U.S., and was started in 1976. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which volunteers with the U.S. Forest Service to help clear trails and more. The group does four to six projects a year, including building and maintaining bridges, putting in culverts, cutting a lot of trails and more. They do overnights and open and close remote sites each season.
According to the volunteers and members of the group, they do it not just for those who go into the backcountry with horses, but for all National Forest users. “We keep trails open for everyone in the valley; it’s not only for equine use,” said Walker.
Another thing the group mentioned is that they are looking for more volunteers, especially younger members. Like many groups in the valley, youth participation is at an all-time low. According to Walker, members do not need to own horses or even know about horses to join. More information about the BRBCH is available on the Back Country Horseman Montana webpage, at https://bchmt.org/wp/bitterroot/. The BRBCH also has an active Facebook page for contact and activity notices.
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