LEWISTOWN — The Human Resource Development Council of District 6 is working with organizations including Farmers To Family and Family Service to feed people in Lewistown who may be experiencing food insecurity.
“They’re gonna get yogurt and meat and milk, soup and produce. They even have fillings, they have breads and cakes and cookies and lots of everything,” said Cathy Seilstad, the director of HRDC District 6.
In the Fall of 2020 the HRDC got involved with food distribution to get residents in District 6 through the tough times of COVID and isolation.
“I think it’s a great positive thing for the community especially last fall when everyone was in an apprehensive mode about the covid. It was a positive thing to have happen to them and I think it still is. Just uplifting for the community,” said Seilstad.
April 6 marked the first distribution in 2021, bringing more than 500 people out to have their trunks loaded with free groceries.
“I like the fruits and the meats and everything else. It’s stuff I wouldn’t be able to buy on a regular basis,” said Wendy Flores of Lewistown.
The food distributed was provided by Family Service that picks up food from grocers in Yellowstone County that would otherwise be made waste.
“We have great partnerships within Yellowstone County that provide so much food for us at times that we are able to take it out to other communities. All of the fresh produce comes from Sam’s club, Albertson's, both Wal-Marts, Target. you’ll go into the market and see the greengrocer and he’s changing out the lettuce and the apples and all of those different fruits and vegetables. So they pull that, we go in, we take and then it goes out the next day. So this food at one time in the past would have been thrown away even though it’s perfectly good healthy food,” said Stacy Brown, Family Service director.
Helping end food waste is a cause on its own but Seilstad does it to serve the low-income community in her town: “We’re a community actions agency, HRDC. So our job is to bring up the community and help the low-income in the community and this has just been an excellent way to do it.”
The HRDC will be back on April 15 at the Fergus County Fairgrounds to distribute food from Farmers To Family from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. For more information, call HRDC at (406) 535-7488, or click here to visit the website.
