BUTTE — The storeroom of the Butte Emergency Food Bank is pretty quiet and empty right now, but in a few days, there’s going to be hundreds of volunteers and, hopefully, thousands upon thousands of pounds of donated food for the annual Thompson Family Food Drive.
Those involved in the event like to describe it this way.
“I like to call it organized chaos.”
“It’s organized chaos.”
“It’s just organized chaos.”
The chaos started 35 years ago when the former Thompson’s Distributing started going door to door collecting food for the food bank in Butte. The drive gets bigger every year.
“I think people in Butte understand the need and Butte looks out for their neighbors, they always have. And to be quite honest with you, I don’t think we could do this in any other community in Montana. Butte people are exceptional at helping out their neighbors,” said event organizer Scott Thompson.
Thompson’s Distributing sold in 2018 but wanted to keep the drive alive and partnered with Harrington Pepsi to continue the tradition.
“It was a no-brainer; it’s a legendary tradition in Butte, the Thompson Family Food Drive, and we wanted to help keep it going,” said Murphy Hirschy of Harrington Pepsi.
People are asked to leave non-perishable food items on their front porch and volunteers with Butte 15/90 Search and Rescue and the volunteer fire departments will collect food and it will go to the food bank.
Last year, they collected more than $56,000 in cash and more than 80,000 pounds of food.
“What you’re seeing here is an empty space right now but come Saturday, this is going to be the most amazing thing you see. You have husbands and wives, you have mothers and daughters, you have parents and grandparents coming on in and working together and it’s kind of a joyful time for all the families to come together and just work,” said food bank volunteer David Armstrong.
The event will take place on Saturday, December 2. People are asked to leave food on their porch before 10 a.m. that morning. Checks can also be made out to the Butte Emergency Food Bank.
