MISSOULA — KPAX viewers were in a giving mood on Thursday evening, helping to raise thousands of dollars to help the Missoula Food Bank feed kids this summer.
The donations came as we brought attention to the Missoula Food Bank's "Free Food for Kids" bus, which will be bringing nutritious food to area neighborhoods again this summer.
The bus is already helping with "grab and go" lunches, but will expanded to provide thousands of prepared meals for children and their families impacted by the economic uncertainty of the pandemic.
To help, KPAX and the Scripps Family Impact Fund through the Scripps Howard Foundation is making a $12,000 contribution. And on Thursday night during an online "telethon" others jumped in. The Dairy Farmers of Montana donated $5,000 with a $6,600 total being raised in just half an hour.
"Fund raising for programs like this helps us meet that need better," said Director of Development and Advocacy for the Missoula Food Bank, Jessica Allred. " It keeps our bus on the road. We're able to do weekend meals for kiddos through the bus as well."
"So, we're there every single day, Monday through Friday. But then for the weekends we're able to leave what we call our Empower Packs there with our kiddos. So it really just allows to do more, to do it better, to do it more dignified, to do it healthier. All of those things."
Donations are still welcome. If you'd like to see the telethon to learn more, visit our KPAX-TV Facebook page. Contributions are also welcome to be made at missoulafoodbank.org.
