Columbia Falls Nonprofits Finding Home in Old Glacier Gateway School 

Three years after developer Mick Ruis purchased the old Glacier Gateway School building in Columbia Falls, the site is becoming a hub for the city’s youth-focused nonprofits, creating a centralized location where families can access childcare, food assistance and extracurricular activities. 

The Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country, which serves Columbia Falls children in after school and summer programming, moved into the second floor of the building in April, taking over the upper floor and nearly tripling its capacity. 

Gateway to Early Learning Daycare is now operating out of the ground level. So is the Ruis Wrestling Academy. Construction is making room for Land to Hand, a nonprofit that runs educational and food-access programs. 

The project, which has been spearheaded by the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit run by Don Bennett, Freedom Bank president and longtime Columbia Falls resident, is grounded in the mission that “it’s all about the kids.” 

“I feel like it’s just a beautiful blend of different organizations,” Bennett said. 

The Glacier Gateway building fell into the hands of the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation after developer Mick Ruis purchased the old school from the Columbia Falls School District in 2021 for $550,000 with the goal of turning the site into housing for seniors and teachers. The building was up for grabs after Columbia Falls voters in 2019 approved a $37 million bond to build a brand new Glacier Gateway Elementary. 

At the time of Ruis’s purchase, the Boys and Girls Club was in urgent need of a new space after the small church building it had been operating out of suffered a water leak. 

Following conversations with Bennett and community leaders, rather than turn the old school into housing, Ruis began the process of donating the building to the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation. Bennett said it was clear the building’s “bones [were] really good,” and it made more sense to revamp it rather than tear it down and build something new. 

Now, the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation leases space to four local nonprofits for a symbolic rent of $1 per year and helps raise funds for infrastructure improvements and much-needed supplies. The nonprofits are responsible for covering their share of utilities. 

“Part of what our goal is is to just try and keep their costs down and help them be as efficient as possible,” Bennett said. “I just think it’s wonderful. I’m so excited about the whole thing.”

Steven Crews, operations director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the new space has allowed the nonprofit to serve around 140 participants, up from the 65 it was able to accommodate before. 

“It was extremely outdated, extremely cramped,” Crews said of the old location. “One bathroom for 65 kids and five adults is not ideal.”

Now, the Boys and Girls Club sprawls out across a half-dozen classrooms, where students have access to their own library, computers, music equipment, hands-on science activities and arts and crafts. Students have their own lockers and access to larger bathrooms, making the space not only functional, but comfortable. With a $10,000 donation from Freedom Bank and a $30,000 Federal Home Loan Bank grant, the organization has updated the flooring, windows and security systems. 

During the school year, the Boys and Girls Club runs an after-school program. During the summer, it operates a summer camp. Program administrators say enrollment has increased tremendously, as has interest from local families. 

“We’re able to provide more quality help to families,” Crews said, noting the overwhelming demand for after-school care, especially among families with working parents. 

The Flathead Valley has experienced a persistent childcare shortage in recent years, putting a strain on families, and specifically mothers, who are often forced to spend thousands per year or forgo entering the workforce. 

Last year, Columbia Falls’s Nature Kids Child Care shuttered, leaving 50 families without childcare. According to a study by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, in 2023, more than 66,000 Montana parents were unable to fully engage with the labor force due to family responsibilities and a lack of childcare. That same year, the average cost of full-time, center-based daycare for an infant or toddler in Montana sat around $11,700 annually. 

“Even for just infant to pre-K, the cost is enormous, and it’s been putting a strain on families,” Crews said. 

By providing a low-cost space to both the Boys and Girls Club and Gateway to Early Learning Daycare, local stakeholders hope to increase the availability of affordable childcare in Columbia Falls, supporting not only families, but employers. 

Construction crews are also working on a sprawling space on the building’s first floor, which is set to be the new home of food access nonprofit Land to Hand. 

In the old Glacier Gateway library, Land to Hand will have administrative offices, volunteer space and an expanded food pantry, from which they’ll provide Columbia Falls families with access to high-quality, fresh food. 

Crews are currently painting, upgrading lighting, installing commercial-grade floors and expanding doorways so Land to Hand staff can move pallet jacks through the space. Updates to the building will be covered in part by Land to Hand and in part by the Columbia Falls Kids Foundation. 

Land to Hand had been looking for a new space, and Gretchen Boyer, the organization’s executive director, said the old Glacier Gateway building “came back to us in a way that was just so lovely.” 

Boyer said Land to Hand is “thrilled to be sharing space with the Boys and Girls Club,” allowing for Columbia Falls families to access critical services all in one place. The executive director said the nonprofit hopes to move into their new home by February. 

In the future, Bennett hopes to see more nonprofits move into the building, such as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Kids and mental and behavioral health providers. 

Crews, of the Boys and Girls Club, said Ruis is “a huge advocate” of the local nonprofit, helping make the ambitious project happen. 

“He’s always been, ‘It’s for the kids. Let’s get kids in the building. Let’s help the kids in the community,’” Crews said of Ruis. 

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