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Tuesday 1pm - 5pm Thursday 1pm - 5pm

Livingston Food Resource Center

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Livingston Food Resource Center

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Fighting hunger and poverty in Park County. For many this is their primary source of food each day. Delivery of food boxes are now available as well.

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 serving 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.

11/02/2026

We love this program and working with Matt's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop & Deli and Montana Food Bank Network - MFBN!

10/23/2026

Tomorrow at the Livingston Civic Center! 1-3 p.m. Swing by our table for a treat & more!

10/21/2026

The LFRC has been lucky enough to work with the Montana Dietetic Internship program for years now - we asked our recent intern, who is helping put together nutrition information for clients with chronic illnesses, to reflect back on her first week with us.

We think she summed up the "behind the scenes" of our operations well (did you know we run 13 programs!?), and we're glad to have been part of her 1000+ hours of supervised practice - which can span from clinical work to community work to food service management.

10/20/2026

It's that time of year - if finances are a barrier for the holiday season you might be interested in our Thanksgiving Meal Kit - components made with care in the LFRC commercial kitchen, and turkey!

Sign up by calling 406-222-5335, or by visiting: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9UUK3bthS6FGhzJDy16z5aqxeprRnUUgk1DjNIJ0NBs220w/viewform

If you're interested in learning more about volunteering during this season of giving please email [email protected]

Thank you to everyone who helps make this program possible!

10/12/2026

Statement from the Board of Directors of the Livingston Food Resource Center

The Board of Directors of the Livingston Food Resource Center is aware of recent social media posts alleging that our Executive Director destroyed a check and made inflammatory statements rejecting the film production’s money. These claims are false.

The production offered the LFRC a $500 contribution. We did not accept it, and here is why: during filming, street closures near the pantry made it harder for clients to reach us. The LFRC raised these concerns with the City of Livingston, including whether neighbors received enough notice and whether access to essential services like the food pantry was protected. Because we were raising concerns about the production on behalf of our clients, accepting the production’s money would have created a conflict of interest. We needed to be able to advocate for our clients freely, without any question about whose interests we represent.

Our Executive Director communicated this decision to the production in writing. The check was never deposited. The posts now circulating mischaracterize a careful, considered decision.

The Board champions access to the food pantry for every neighbor who needs it, and we would do so regardless of the circumstances or the parties involved. We are committed to a respectful and safe environment for all, including our clients, volunteers, staff, and supporters.

The Board fully supports our Executive Director and is deeply proud of the professionalism, integrity, and care with which she has led the LFRC through this period. We thank the Livingston community for its continued trust.

The Livingston Food Resource Center Board of Directors
406-222-5335 | www.livingstonfrc.org

10/07/2026

A closing note from LFRC's Executive Director:

Yesterday, our seniors, our neighbors with disabilities, and all of our other clients were able to pull into our parking lot from 2nd Street. To the Commission, our local law enforcement, the film crew, and the protestors alike: thank you for helping make yesterday's access safe and peaceful. Tomorrow is our last shopping day affected by filming.

Before this chapter closes:

Yes, this was about access. Having blocked access to the entrance of our one-way parking lot didn't and doesn't work for some of our clients.

The truth is that some of our clients were affected. The truth is that my job as Executive Director is to champion the dignity of our most vulnerable neighbors, the ones who might not be able to walk two blocks, or one block, or down the parking lot to get food. And I think the Commission made the right calls: holding two meetings, reviewing the permit, and not cancelling it, because the city's legal options were limited. I'm glad they reinstated it with conditions, especially the one that mattered most to us: full access to the LFRC. Our neighbors deserve nothing less.

The process needs to change, and I'll keep working with the city so the next nonprofit, business, or neighbor gets notice well before a street has multi week closures.

The LFRC serves one in eight Park County residents, with programming reaching from the Shields to Paradise Valley. One in three of our clients is a senior and one in five is a child, and our most frequent shoppers are seniors and neighbors with disabilities. We have 188 active volunteers, a ratio of 1:38 FTE to volunteers, an exponential investment of community care and time. Through 13 programs, from the pantry and mobile pantries to our community kitchen, benefit navigation, and summer lunch, we're working on increasing nutrition security and the well-being of our community by addressing the root causes of hunger.

If you'd like to be part of that, we'd welcome you: volunteer, reach out to me for a tour, or make a monthly gift to support our work.

Thank you,

Kaya Patten-Fusselman
Executive Director, Livingston Food Resource Center
[email protected] | 406-222-5335 | www.livingstonfrc.org

10/04/2026

Yesterday, community members showed up in force to say the city needs to change how neighbors, businesses, and essential services are notified of multi-day street closures. Thank you.

Tomorrow, Monday 10/5 at 5pm, there will be a public hearing regarding the temporary suspension of the film permit for Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC. The LFRC will again be sharing how the current permitting process has affected our operations and our clients.

We want to, again, publicly acknowledge that the producers of the film have been open to working with us. Our concern is that the permit was issued by the City without any required notice to the neighbors and services it would affect, with no way to for us to raise concerns beforehand. That's a gap in the process, and we hope to see it improved so every future production and every neighbor starts on the same footing.

We've also heard from people who are frustrated that we're frustrated, so we want to be clear: Yes, we are routing people through the exit on Lewis and out the alley. But moving hundreds of cars a week that way, with armed security guards nearby and traffic confusion added on top, has meant we have clients who are going without food since filming began, and with us going into a third week of permitted full street closures. That is unacceptable, and it's why we're engaging with the democratic process.

Please join us, if you are able.

Added after posting: We should also add that even when we did have partial access to the 2nd street entrance to the LFRC armed security was stopping every single car trying to access us and we have staff witnesses of clients being nearly turned away just trying to ride their bike to the Food Pantry - also unacceptable.

10/02/2026

The City Commission has called a special meeting tomorrow 10/3 at 9am at the City-County Complex in the Community Room. The agenda item is a discussion of street closures.

The LFRC will be making public comment tomorrow, amending our statement yesterday, which indicated that we would be making our comment on Tuesday 10/6 at the recurring City Commission Meeting.

We'll be asking for changes to how film permits are handled, including advance notice for neighboring nonprofits and businesses, so that essential services stay safely accessible. If you can, please join us.

10/01/2026

Statement from the Livingston Food Resource Center

The Livingston Food Resource Center recognizes the economic impact the film and TV industry has on our local economy, families, and artists. We are also compelled to acknowledge the impact the filming of "Pawn Shop" on South 2nd Street is having on our clients. People who already face numerous obstacles to meeting their most basic needs are now facing additional, completely avoidable barriers to accessing food because of how this production was permitted.

The LFRC proudly serves 1 in 8 Park County residents, and one in three of our clients is a senior. Since filming began across the street from our building, road closures and armed security guards have increased the barriers to accessing food. Our clients deserve to feel unequivocally safe accessing this essential resource.

We are a critical resource in our community, with 12 food access programs and a counseling and benefit navigation program. Everything we do, all of the tireless energy that staff and volunteers pour into this building, is to prioritize the dignity and experience of our clients. The processing of this permit made that commitment harder to keep.

We were not notified of the plans to film. The LFRC learned how filming would affect our mission only when staff called the city to inquire, and there was no part of the permit process that allowed us to object or advocate for our clients, as the permit had already been issued and filming was due to start that week. Many of our clients don't have phones, internet access, or social media so our internal policy is to give clients a minimum of four weeks' notice before any change, so we can reach everyone and maintain the trust we've built with this community over many years.

Attendance at our pantry was down 17% on Tuesday, September 29th, an eight-week low from seeing 90-100+ households a day. That is unacceptable.

We have pivoted to reroute traffic through our parking lot exit on Lewis, but it has taken a significant amount of staff and volunteer time to mitigate confusion. The LFRC will be providing public comment at the City Commission meeting on October 6th to ask for changes to how film permits are handled, so that essential community services are protected before any production is approved. We believe that in any conversation about free expression, safe access to critical resources must come first. That's why we'll be asking the city to build notice and community resource access protections into permits.

Thanks to our incredible volunteers and staff, we are eliminating obstacles every single day to feed and nourish our community. Please consider joining us in this mission to increase nutrition security and overall well-being in our community through volunteering or learning more about our work.

Pantry shopping days: Tuesday and Thursday, 1-5 p.m.

Media contact: Kaya Patten-Fusselman, Executive Director

202 S 2nd St, Livingston MT 59047| 406-222-5335 | livingstonfrc.org

Address

202 S 2nd Street
Livingston, MT
59047

Opening Hours

Tuesday	1pm - 5pm
Thursday	1pm - 5pm

Telephone

+14062225335

Website

http://www.livingstonfrc.org/, https://linktr.ee/livingstonfrc

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