With rising costs and growing need, Great Falls Public Schools is continuing efforts to make sure students don’t go hungry. Across the district, 21 school food pantries are providing food, snacks, and essentials for students and their families, thanks entirely to community donations.
Each school in the district, including one pre-kindergarten center, 15 elementary schools, two middle schools, and three high schools, operates its own pantry stocked with easy-to-prepare foods and household items.
At Great Falls High School, Food Bank Coordinator and English teacher Dakota Rosales helps manage one of the busiest pantries in the district.
“Our food bank at Great Falls High provides not only food boxes weekly to families in need, but we also give out free snacks throughout the day to hungry children,” Rosales said. “We also do holiday dinner baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we are all privately funded. We don’t get any federal funding for this — it’s all through the amazing donations of our alumni and community.”
The pantry at Great Falls High has been operating for more than 20 years. Rosales said she distributes “hundreds of snacks a week and at least ten food boxes,” adding that the pantry also provides hygiene items to students who need them.
“It’s not just food,” she says. “We also provide the female products in the bathroom for our females to prevent period poverty.”
Rosales says the demand has grown steadily in recent years. “People forget that Great Falls High, per capita, is the largest poverty high school in the state,” she says. “We have a lot of students who are in need, and our Bison family does everything we can to help them.”
Chad Getten, the department head for the school’s counseling department, works closely with Rosales to identify students who might benefit from the program.
He explains, “Usually we’re kind of the middle person in trying to get names to Dakota. It could be that we know the family’s background, or a classroom teacher might tell us about a student in need. Then we’ll talk to the student and connect them with the pantry.”
Getten says the need for food support continues to rise across the district. “Roughly 55% of our students are on free and reduced lunch,” he says, “That’s just what we know, I’m sure there are more students who haven’t filled out the paperwork. So I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s a growing need.”
He added that the impact goes beyond just a meal, adding, “It might be just getting a kid or a family through the night or through the weekend. When you talk about the holidays, Dakota said we do 25-plus families for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Easter break. This program is vital within our school and our community.”
The district says each pantry relies on community support to keep shelves stocked. Items like boxed mac and cheese, instant mashed potatoes, snacks such as granola bars and fruit snacks, spaghetti sauce, noodles, and stuffing mix are always in high demand, especially during the holiday season.
Donations can be taken directly to any school in the district, and those wishing to contribute financially can send funds to the Great Falls Public Schools Foundation, with donations designated for food pantries.
Rosales said keeping the shelves filled is a “labor of love”. She says, “I feel honored to do this for our Bison family,” she said. “We’re always grateful for the help we get from our community, especially our Great Falls High alumni, who have been some of our biggest supporters.”
Getten agreed, saying the gratitude from families makes the effort worthwhile, saying, “They might not always say much, but they’re grateful. They know they’re going to have a better weekend or a better holiday because there’s food on the table. That’s what this is all about.”
