Athletic Club pitches in for the holidays

The Bigfork Food Pantry needs turkeys.

The pantry gives out turkeys and all the fixings for holiday meals to families in need for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“Thanksgiving is a special time, and I firmly believe that every family should have a good Thanksgiving dinner,” Bigfork Food Pantry Director Ann Tucker said.

But this year, their normal turkey supplier didn’t have enough to go around, so the Pantry sent out a call for help.

Normally the pantry gets frozen turkeys from the Flathead Food Bank, but with an increase in demand, and fewer turkeys, they weren’t able to send Bigfork any birds.

After the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce sent out an e-mail notifying local businesses of this need an individual came forward and donated 40 turkeys to the food pantry.

The Montana Athletic Club is calling on its members to help take care of the rest.

The Athletic Club is organizing a Turkey Drop.

“Rather than just buy a few turkeys, we would like everyone to have the ‘feel good’ moment of giving to the food bank,” Montana Athletic Club Director Doug Mahlum said.

Athletic club members purchase a turkey for the food pantry and drop it off at the Athletic Club or Chamber of Commerce and bring the receipt to the Athletic Club.

The club will reimburse buyers for the turkeys by crediting their club account for the amount of the purchase price. New members of the club can deduct the price from their first month dues.

Their goal is to provide the pantry with 75 turkeys for Thanksgiving and 75 turkeys for Christmas.

“This is our busiest time of the year,” Tucker said. “People who normally wouldn’t come in are running short this time of year, and this gives them the opportunity to defray some expenses. It is through the generosity of our community that we’re able to do this. We couldn’t do it otherwise.”