The Livingston Food Pantry:
The Livingston Food Pantry provides a number of programs that are designed to serve the specific needs of well defined segments of people-in-need in Livingston and Park County. Children – More than a third of the families served by the Pantry have at least one child under the age of 18 living in the household. The Livingston Food Pantry places great importance on ser
ving and educating children to help make them healthy adults. Specific programs for children include:
Back Pack Program – More than 40% of Livingston’s elementary school children depend on free and reduced price meal programs during the school year. To help bridge the weekend and holiday gaps when school meals are not available, The Livingston Food Pantry provides bags of supplemental weekend food to elementary school children every Friday. Summer Lunch Program – Children who depend on meal programs during the school year often deal with food insufficiency during the summer months when school meal programs are not available. In response, The Livingston Food Pantry provides free, nutritious lunches, Monday through Friday, to all Livingston school age children in need – all summer. Kids Cooking Camp – The Pantry’s Kids Cooking Camp is a fun-filled program designed to help children learn kitchen safety, sanitation, basic cooking skills, and how to make quick and healthful meal alternatives to chips and pop. This program teaches children healthful dietary habits that will help make them healthier adults. Adults and Seniors – More than 80% of the adults served by The Livingston Food Pantry need assistance because they are unemployed or underemployed. This high percentage is driven primarily by the relatively weak local economy, and lack of marketable job skills among Pantry clients. As a result of employment challenges, 97% of the people served by the Pantry are ranked as Low Income, most living at or below federal poverty levels for their household size. Programs designed for adults include:
Food Box Service – Once each month Pantry clients can make food selections that include fresh and non-perishable food items. This food box service is designed to provide enough food to feed each member of the household for a period of five to seven days. Since, March of 2020, curbside food distribution has been available on to anyone needing food assistance with no limitations on how many times a household visits each month. Senior Commodities Program – People over the age of 60 with limited, fixed incomes can qualify to receive a supply of basic commodity food items each month. This program provides support to more than 90 Livingston seniors each month. The Livingston Food Pantry Community Garden-The Pantry started the Community Garden four summers ago to provide a gathering place where local people can grow fresh produce for themselves, their families, and their community. Special Community Service Days – Service Days are conducted at the Pantry on a regular basis and are designed to introduce clients to other service organizations that might provide specific support such as, assistance with utility bills, health screening, voter registration, nutrition education, and free flu shots. The Community Kitchen:
The Community Kitchen is a licensed, food processing, catering, and meal preparation facility. The Community Kitchen is designed and equipped to provide the tools and support needed by local farmers, caterers, entrepreneurs, and small-scale food processors to engage in new product development and processing. The Community Kitchen is used by multiple and diverse users at scheduled times throughout the day and week. It provides users with access, on a time-share basis, to a licensed production facility that enables them to start and expand food production and catering businesses without the prohibitively high costs of creating their own commercial kitchens. The hourly cost for using the Community Kitchen is $12.00 for entrepreneurs through their start up and development phase, and $15.00 for established businesses. The Community Kitchen provides assistance to entrepreneurs and existing food businesses for the development, testing, processing, marketing of value-added food products, and an interest-free micro loan program. The Community Room:
The Community Room is a designed to support a wide array of Food Resource Center and community functions. The Community Room is used for meetings, classes, meal service, and community events.
