ALBERTON - Last August, Summer Drey and her husband moved from San Diego to Alberton to find work because they heard that more jobs were available in Montana than in California. And they found employment in Alberton - for about three months.

Recently, Drey, who has two children, started working two days a week at Invisible Fence Brand, which produces pet containment systems. She is still in training. Her husband, an electrician, has worked about one week in the past few months.

Sometimes buying food is a struggle. Alberton has one grocery store, Valley Grocery, that can be a bit on the expensive side with limited stock, Drey“They don't carry diapers. They don't have necessities,” Drey said. “Hopefully the food bank can help fill some of those gaps.”

Laura Acker, one of those active in getting the Alberton food bank established, stocks the shelves on Monday while holding her daughter, Rainier.
Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian

Alberton, with a population of about 400, will open its first food bank, the Alberton Community Food Pantry, on June 10. People will be able to pick up food on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from 2 to 8 p.m.

The food bank is located in the back of Frenchtown Fire Department's Station 8, where food can be collected, stored and distributed, said Steve Roy, operations chief for the Frenchtown Rural Fire District.

Alberton needed a food bank because of the level of poverty in the area and the cost of traveling to nearby food banks, which are 30 miles away in Missoula or Superior, said Laura Acker, who has been active in getting the new pantry up and running.

Acker has lived in Alberton for five years. She worked in Missoula for two years, but eventually, she could not afford the commute or child care for her three children. Her husband has not had steady work since January, as jobs rarely come open in Alberton, she said.

The Alberton Community Food Pantry gained approval from the Montana Food Bank Network and registered as a nonprofit organization. In November, the pantry will apply for grants of up to $500 from the Northwest Area Foundation, Acker said.

For now, the food bank has received $500 from Helping Hands in addition to private donations, and none of the money has been used yet.

The Alberton pantry can buy food at 22 cents per pound from the Montana Food Bank Network. Those involved in opening the food bank have also been asking local churches for support, Acker said.

The food bank is looking for commodities such as shelf-stable milk and locally produced eggs. Lettuce, spinach and radishes are coming in, and the pantry is waiting for strawberries and apples to arrive later in the season.

Donated garden vegetables are typically sent to the state prison at Deer Lodge to be canned before being shipped to Alberton, but if the food is donated locally, the food bank can have fresh produce available, Acker said.

Alberton's food bank will have an application for people to fill out when they visit. They will be asked to provide information, such as the number of children they have and the types of income they receive.

Acker said they need that information to educate - for instance, someone might not know he or she qualifies for food stamps.

“You ask as little as you need,” Acker said. “We don't have to refuse anybody.”

Once the volunteers know how much food a person qualifies for, they distribute it by boxes that have a balance of proteins, grains and other nutrients, according to guidelines. Extras such as jelly, coffee, tea or apples can be added to a box. People using the food bank receive a two-day supply of food when they pick it up.

Dani Sacks moved to Alberton from San Francisco.

“It's an interesting throwback community,” Sacks said of Alberton, where she has lived for six years outside the city limits. Some people in Alberton have money they acquired elsewhere, but many of them do not live in town, Sacks said.

To see why the community would benefit from a food bank, Sacks simply said, “Drive through Alberton.” In the 2000 census, 52 percent of the town's households made less than $30,000, and that percentage would be higher now.

However, the team that gathered on Monday morning to stock food and organize paperwork in the cramped storage space at the back of the fire station was in good spirits. The children ran inside and out, hardly sitting still long enough to color a picture.

Acker, Sacks, Summer Drey, Ronie Johnson and Kristi Abbey spoke enthusiastically about the food bank, the support they have received and their hopes for the future of the Alberton food bank.

“I never thought I'd live in a place like Alberton, and now I'll never leave,” Acker said.

Alaina Abbott is a senior studying print journalism at the University of Montana who is interning at the Missoulian this summer. She can be reached at 523-5251 or at alaina.abbott@lee.net.

By ALAINA ABBOTT for the Missoulian

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/06/03/news/local/news03.txt