GREAT FALLS — The General Distributing Company in Great Falls recently donated $25,000 to the Great Falls Community Food Bank. The donation is part of the Distributing Company’s ongoing 75th anniversary celebration, which is now in its fourth-generation of ownership.
“We’ve decided to give back to the communities that have supported us for so long,” says Glenn Bliss, president of GDC.
With six branch locations across Montana, the GDC wanted to get each community involved. Representatives were sent to scout out the non-profits making a major difference in each GDC branch community.
Nine very deserving non-profits in Great Falls were up for award nomination.
“We ultimately ended up selecting the Great Falls Community Food Bank and specifically the backpack program,” says Bliss.
The “BACKPACKS4KIDS” program is aimed at making sure no child goes hungry. Impacting all 15 elementary schools in Great Falls, the program feeds roughly 950 children per week. The $25,000 will go a long way.
“To get a donation of that size is just a godsend, really. It's going to pay for just a little less than a quarter of our entire yearly budget. So that is enormous. Just enormous. And we're eternally grateful,” says Shaun Tatarka, director of the food bank.
Tatarka says their non-profit has potential plans to expand upon the “BACKPACKS4KIDS” program within the next couple of years.
“We’ve improved upon the quality of the food in the backpacks, we’ve tried to include more protein,” says Tatarka. “The next step is to start getting the middle schools involved. We’re a year or two away from that, but, when you get a great gift like this, it certainly makes you think you can do more in the future.”
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