Mountrail Community Food Pantry December News
The Mountrail Community Food Pantry provided 13,360 pounds of food to 109 Mountrail County families in December for a total of 370 people, of which 135 were children and 56 were seniors. We received 18 pounds of garden produce and some very nice squash. Cashwise donated 4,804 pounds of food that Greg and Bill loaded up, hauled, unloaded and weighed, which was then stocked in our pantry. Thank you, gardener and thank you, Cashwise. And of course, thank you Greg and Bill.
A fun numbers crunch here, overall totals for 2025. Our pantry provided 134,019 pounds of food to Mountrail County families in 2025. We received 2,352 pounds of garden produce from local gardeners. Truckin’ Fresh Produce donated 3,940 pounds of fresh produce. Cashwise donated 24,121 pounds of food.
We started off December with a very nice honey donation from a local farming family! Thank you! Clients love honey, so this was a real treat!! I wanted to take a photo, but she would have none of that. I tried. Side note… she was one of my sons’ favorite teachers, and even though they graduated over 20 years ago, and she was their 6th grade teacher, she still looks as young and beautiful as she did back then.
We again had wonderful food donations, monetary donations, and some more of those matching hats or scarves, and gloves, put together by a very kindhearted person. The children LOVE choosing their colorful bag of warm items.
We gave out ham vouchers for Christmas (turkey for those who do not eat pork) and those vouchers were very appreciated. One client even gave us a hug when she received her voucher. Clients take these vouchers out to Cashwise and exchange them for their ham. It makes more work for Cashwise, I’m guessing, but they do not complain. They want to help their community in all the ways that they can.
We had our special Christmas food items, too. We purchased au gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, Jello, pudding, and a cheesecake mix with the topping included. It was our goal that our clients would have a lovely meal for their Christmas celebration with their families. All of these items are purchased from our local Cashwise.
There are staples that we provide each week for families, all purchased locally. We have one gallon of milk, one dozen eggs, butter (butter is sometimes from the Great Plains Food Bank), and one loaf of bread. We purchase our milk from Marshall Gray, Gray Bros., here in Stanley. He delivers right to our door and even puts the milk nicely in our fridge!! He offers this service to individuals, as well. It’s rare to see that kind of service anymore, it seems. It reminds me of the storybooks that we used to read, how the milkman would deliver fresh milk right to people’s doors. I always thought that seemed like such a peaceful way to begin a morning, delivering milk to people as they were waking up. It’s wonderful to have something like this still available!! Great job, Marshall! And thank you. The rest of the food items we purchase are from Cashwise, and they deliver it all right to our door, every Monday.
As I re-read this, it’s important to note that while the above foods are something we give every Monday, we also offer many other items each Monday that can vary. Canned vegetables and fruits, soups, juices, pastas, pasta sauce, mac and cheese, (which is its own category because it’s delicious) peanut butter, jelly, canned meats, several types of dried beans, cereals, raisins, baked goods (donated from Cashwise), various kinds of meats, (again, depending on sales and donations), some personal care products, and many other items, depending on donations and sales, as well as what we receive from the Great Plains Food Bank.
We are extremely fortunate to be taken care of so wonderfully!! It is absolutely the best feeling to see families leave with the food they need!! We couldn’t do this without the support of our community, and of our volunteers. And we surely do appreciate every bit of it.
As promised, I will provide our address for people that would like to donate in some way. Our physical address is the Memorial Building, 18 2nd Ave SE, Stanley. The door in the southeast corner of the building is ours, if a person would like to drop off food donations, and our mailing address remains the same, 6989 84th Ave NW, Stanley 58784. If you’d like to save postage, you can slide an envelope right under our door at the pantry, and we will find it when we arrive.
Our hours of operation are 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. on Mondays. (except legal holidays). If you or someone you know needs a little help in providing food for their family, please feel welcome to visit our pantry. You won’t find a friendlier greeting anywhere than when you walk through our doors. Lil and Nancy are the best at what they do!! Not only do they greet people like they are family when they arrive, but they check them in, make certain their information is what we require, provide instructions if needed, give out a voucher if we have them to give out, weigh their food, record the weight of the food for our reporting needs, and then merrily wish everyone a good rest of the day as they walk back out the door with their food. It’s uplifting to listen to them work. Speaking of our day’s work, we would very much appreciate it if folks would be here no later than 2:30 p.m. so we can go home by 3:00. (We have been hustling to prepare for our clients since 9:30 or so that morning, so we are plenty tired by 3:00 p.m.) We are open all Mondays in January except the 19th. We will be closed on January 19th, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The whole building will be closed. That will also be the case for February 16th in observance of Presidents Day. Just an FYI, we will start our application process over in January, so folks will need to bring their ID with proof of their physical address again.
If you’d like to follow us, we are on Facebook at Mountrail Community Food Pantry. You will see any announcements we may have, especially as winter weather is here, as well as fun pictures.
As I write this, we are standing on the threshold of 2026. A brand new year, waiting like a clean slate for us to draw upon. Here’s to creating something beautiful, better than ever before, filled with easy laughter, quiet listening, deep and abiding love, joyful miracles, sincere gratitude, and a true sense of peace, knowing that we are in the Best of Hands.
With a heart full of hope…..
Mary