National Guard Food Bank and County Assistance from Jamie Quinn, FoodbankFrom:jamie@flatheadfoodbank.com
To:Kalispell City Council
Subject:[EXTERNAL] National Guard Food Bank and County Assistance
Date:Friday, March 27, 2020 4:49:36 PM
Attachments:City National Guard Letter 3-23-20.docx
Good afternoon,
I have attached a letter requesting support from Kalispell City and Council to assist with having local
National Guard deployed with the clear intent of helping to ensure access to food to our most
vulnerable. As you may be aware National Guard are being called in to assist with sanitization and
food distribution in many states and I believe we are in need of this assistance which currently is
being covered by the Federal Government at 100% of cost. While I understand you have many things
going on right now and there is not another meeting for a week, I am asking for support if possible
quickly in an attempt to continue services in the event our staff becomes exposed we can have
trained people to take over.
Sincerely,
Jamie Quinn
Kalispell City Council
201 1st Avenue East
Kalispell MT 59901
To Mayor Johnson, Mr. Russell, and City Council,
Flathead Food Bank and North Valley Food Bank are asking Gov. Bullock’s office to deploy the National
Guard to Flathead County including Kalispell to assist us in feeding our most at-risk populations. As non-
profits, we operate on limited staff and mostly volunteers. In the event of our staff became exposed and
had to quarantine we have no support to maintain the basic necessity that a food bank provides to the
community. While we are working on trying to get food out in preparation our services are needed
more now than ever. The National Guard will be able to assist with so much we are desperately in need
of and if we can train them ahead on operations and sanitization we can continue our services even
after staff would have to quarantine. While times are changing more than any of us can handle we do
not have the capacity to have staff working opposite shifts, sanitize in the event of exposure and reopen
in a timely manner. Currently, we are working with Eagle Transit to drop food to low-income senior
apartments, working on a list of other potential delivery recipients, warehousing food for the entire
county including TEFAP food that is fresh produce (apples, oranges, potatoes, onions, etc.) and shelf-
stable food that can support county food banks, feeding programs, county schools, school feeding
programs, at-risk seniors, laid-off personnel, and so many more. We are requesting your support to ask
Gov. Bullock to deploy 50 National Guard to Flathead County to be trained and utilized immediately.
Sincerely,
Jamie Quinn