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5/5/2025
Cooperative sees future at Fresh Rescue
After a long search for a home base, the forthcoming Montana Food Hub Co-op is close to finalizing a deal to launch in a Great Falls community kitchen.
The organization is finalizing its incorporation as a cooperative and recently announced plans to operate out of the Fresh Rescue Community Kitchen, which is a project of St. Vincent de Paul of Northcentral Montana.
Lyndsay Gutierrez, organizer for the Montana Food Hub, said that the co-op initially searched for a larger space to grow into. But when a grant fell through that helped fund the facility search, she ended up on a tour of the Fresh Rescue kitchen and realized it had the qualities necessary to get the operation off and running.
“It reminded us that we actually knew a space that had all of the things that we needed,†Gutierrez told ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ. “Smaller than we were picturing, and so we started a conversation about what they would look like.â€
The Montana Food Hub Co-op is in the process of signing up member-owners who are small or medium-sized ag producers. The Co-op’s role would be to connect those producers with a reliable market of local buyers with the goal of circulating regionally grown foods to local restaurants, grocers and other bulk purchasers.
“There’s a ton of demand,†she said. “The same way that there isn’t a good middleman for the growers, there aren’t a ton of options for restaurants here in town to buy local food in bulk.â€
The Fresh Rescue Community Kitchen opened last fall to support meal distribution programs for those in need and to provide a community space for educational programs and use for nonprofits. The organization is licensed to package and distribute food and has processed about 10,000 pounds of food each month, according to Deb Kottel, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul in Great Falls.
The final arrangement between the two organizations has yet to be finalized, but Kottel said it’s an opportunity to bring its kitchen operation closer to the source of the food it prepares.
“This gives us a really important inroad into the local processors and producers, which I think will help us be able to process and produce food for our food bank,†she said.
The kitchen has hosted many cooking class programs and prepared food for various nonprofit organizations in town. However, its food distribution took a hit when the U.S. Department of Agriculture made drastic cuts to a food assistance program that benefited food banks and other charity distributors like St. Vincent de Paul.
“So we will have less commodities,†Kottel said. “Not just us.â€
The Montana Food Hub will hold its first members meeting in early June at Fresh Rescue. There, members will vote on bylaws, approve a board and finalize the incorporation process. The cooperative will also finalize its arrangement with the kitchen.
Gutierrez said that the educational missions of both organizations align. She hopes that member-producers will collaborate and share pathways to successful food production on a local scale.
“We’re really excited because that means we go from this planning phase that has lasted now for seven years and move into the operational phase and actually get to start moving food, which is exciting,†she said.
By the numbers
The amount raised through the Give Great Falls event by noon Friday, including $1,536 donated to MTFP. Local reporter Matt Hudson and MTFP are grateful for your support of independent, nonpartisan journalism. Your support helps to maintain full-time watchdog reporting about local governments, local people and the issues that matter to northcentral Montana.
Thank you for your engagement and support to recognize the importance of a free and independent news media in Great Falls.
School board election
Election Day for the spring Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees is Tuesday. It’s an all-mail election, and the last day to drop your ballot in the mail on time was late last week, according to Cascade County Election Administrator Terry Thompson.
Voters who haven’t returned their ballots can drop them off at the county courthouse annex building downtown (325 2nd Ave. N.) on Monday. On Tuesday, the election department will move operations to Exhibition Hall at the fairgrounds, where a ballot drop-off box will also be available. Same-day registration is available on Tuesday at Exhibition Hall as well.
Thompson told MTFP last week that a low number of ballots have been returned so far — less than 20% of the 36,000 ballots sent. If you expected a ballot and did not receive one, Thompson said you can call or visit the elections office to check your status or request a new ballot.
There are three open board seats and four candidates (read more about them here).
5 things to know in Great Falls
The U.S. District Court in Great Falls has 16 immigration enforcement cases filed since April 23, adding to the sharp uptick in these kinds of cases on the court docket. Most of the arrests took place in Hi-Line towns, and many involved local law enforcement alerting federal immigration authorities during traffic stops.
The Columbia River Canoe Project documentary will be shown at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on May 6 at 6 p.m. The film follows two cousins as they embark on a 1,300-mile canoe trip from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean. Doors open at 5:30, and the event is free.
First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park released its schedule of events for May. They include a volunteer weed pull at 6 p.m. on May 13, a presentation about snakes at 1 p.m. on May 17 and ranger-led talks about the park’s history each Saturday at 1 p.m., starting May 24. The park website is .
The Great Falls Public Library’s Armchair Traveler Series will host former Great Falls Mayor Bob Kelly on May 8 to speak about a trip to Nepal. Kelly’s visit in 2022 included stops in Katmandu, Chitwan National Park, Pokhara Gorepani and Poon Hill, The Khumbu Valley, Namche Bazar and Gokyo Ri. The event begins at 7 p.m.
A jury determined that CoreCivic, which operates the Crossroads Correctional Facility prison in Shelby, should pay more than $27 million in damages to a former inmate who was assaulted and seriously injured in 2018. After the attack, Nathaniel Lake ended up on life support for weeks at a Great Falls hospital. Lake’s lawsuit alleged negligence by CoreCivic and that a lack of inmate oversight allowed the attack to happen. A jury returned the verdict on April 24 after trial in U.S. District Court in Great Falls. Lake was in prison for attempted sexual intercourse without consent, a conviction that the Montana Supreme Court overturned in 2019.
Public notice
The Great Falls City Commission will hold a public hearing on proposed trash pickup rate increases during its meeting on May 6. Sanitation staff have requested a 10% increase for commercial pickup and an 8% increase for residential for each of the next two years.
If approved, rates could increase from $17.33 to $18.71 monthly for residential customers this year and up to $20.20 in 2026.
The sanitation department has also proposed eliminating the senior rate for residential service and replacing it with a low-income rate. If passed by the commission, existing senior rate customers would see an increase to $14.20 monthly (from the current $12.13) until 2026, when those eligible for a low-income rate would pay $16.84 monthly. The low-income rates would increase in future years along with regular rates and would be assessed at a 10% discount from the regular residential rate.
The city commission meeting materials are available .
