Huge success for hospital food drive
February is traditional the time to celebrate “love” and for the employees of Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital it was also the month to “Share the Love.” Throughout the month of February, hospital employees collected food and cash for the hospital’s annual food drive. The food drive, with the theme aptly titled “Share the Love” was organized by the hospital’s food drive committee. Each year the drive is organized by different hospital departments and this year the departments in charge of organizing the month-long effort were Surgery, Quality Improvement, Marketing and Nursing Secretary.
After contacting the three food banks in the valley, the committee decided that the needs of the food banks were such that they wanted to incorporate all three food banks into this year’s hospital food drive. “We took a look at the amount of people served and food items going out each month from all of the food banks and set a high goal for hospital employees to meet,” said Deb Atkins, surgical tech at the hospital and food drive team member, and she adds, “They didn’t let us down.”
On March 2nd representatives from Hamilton’s Haven House, Darby’s Bread Box and Stevensville’s Pantry Partners arrived at the hospital and were astonished at the overwhelming generosity. As part of the food drive, on February 24-26, organized collection points were in place in the local supermarkets from Darby to Stevensville manned by hospital employees, Community Advisory Committee Members and Auxiliary volunteers (Pink Ladies and Maroon Men). Community donations matched within $100 of what hospital employees had donated, doubling the amount the hospital was able to collect.
“The food drive final results were just what we hoped we could accomplish,” said Cynthia Fleming member of the food drive team. Haven House received $1700 in cash and 2,736 pounds of food. Pantry Partners received nearly $800 in cash and 2600 pounds of food. Barbara Plakke a new volunteer at Pantry Partners in Stevensville said, “I can’t believe they have done so much, clearly my SUV is not near big enough – I am so amazed at the generosity of this community.” The Bread Box in Darby received $1400 in cash and 980 pounds of food. The committee estimates that the total donations of cash and groceries were over $10,000.
“We cannot thank our fellow employees and the people of the Bitterroot Valley enough for helping us exceed our goal,” said Amy James-Linton, member of the Marcus Daly food drive team. “This is a very caring community.”
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Meridian Road, north of Sweathouse Creek Road to Curlew Orchard Road between Iroquois Trail and Meridian Road, will be closed to traffic through Friday, March 18 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day. The closure is necessary to facilitate roadway resurfacing. Roadway users in these areas should be alert for heavy truck traffic and construction equipment. Traffic control signs and flaggers will be in place to assist roadway users. Roadway users should plan on using alternative routes during this time. For more information on this project, contact the Ravalli County Road & Bridge Department at 244 Fairgrounds Road in Hamilton or phone 363-2733.
