BILLINGS — The Producer Partnership (website), a Livingston-based nonprofit, dropped off a pallet of more than 4,000 pounds of meat for Family Service in Billings on Tuesday, just the first of several stops this week for the organization. On Wednesday, the agency made another delivery, this time to the Salvation Army in Great Falls.
The Producer Partnership's mission is to deliver a total of more than 40,000 pounds of meat to 10 cities across Montana this week:
- Family Service Inc (Billings)
- Gallatin Valley Food Bank (Bozeman)
- Butte Emergency Food Bank
- Helena Food Share
- Salvation Army (Great Falls)
- Pondera Food Pantry (Conrad)
- Blackfeet Food Pantry (Browning)
- Flathead Food Bank (Kalispell)
- MFBN (Missoula)
- SW Vets Food Pantry (Deer Lodge)
Family Service said they’ve already helped provide 60,000 Montanans this year with food and other services.
“During COVID, we saw a huge spike. I know in Livingston they saw about a 300% increase when the shutdown happened,” said Matt Pierson, the president and founder of the non-profit agency.
That demand for service is back. “We’re seeing it coming back to COVID numbers again now from what I’m hearing from people just because of the raise in inflation, the cost of food, people trying to make ends meet,” Pierson said.
That’s why Pierson founded the Producer Partnership back in 2020.
“We take in donated animals, we process them in our own federally inspected facility and then donate it out in food banks and schools throughout Montana," said Pierson.
Producer Partnership operates the only federally-inspected nonprofit purchase and operating facility in the nation.
“Coming across fresh donations, such as fruits, veggies, especially meat products 'cuz they’re really hard to come by, and so this donation is a lifeline,” said Family Service’s warehouse operations assistant, Debra Anderson.
“It’ll go pretty quickly. Like I said, meat is a big commodity, so it’ll feed thousands of households within the next couple days,” said Family Service’s development director, Felicia Burg.
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