Flathead Valley Giving Table Promotes Neighbors Helping Neighbors
The Facebook group sprung up to combat the immediate impacts of the shutdown — namely, SNAP benefits stalling — but its founder discovered need in the Flathead is constantly shifting and hopes her group can continue to help fill in the gaps.
By Mariah Thomas
When Danni Gormley saw on the news that the government shutdown was affecting people’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, she made a Facebook post in a Kalispell moms group offering to share her food with those in need.
What began as a simple offer quickly snowballed as others responded, either asking for help or offering to share resources themselves.
“I got way more responses than I ever thought I would, so I started trying to organize donating mothers to receiving mothers, but the requests kept growing and growing,” Gormley said.
So, on Oct. 26, she made a Facebook group of her own, known as the Flathead Valley Giving Table. The impact, Gormley said, was immediate. People began dropping donations on her living room porch or coming by to grab food from a makeshift food pantry. She hosted a food drive in her garage, open to anyone who needed assistance and support.
“I created this group with the intention of helping families during this time without their SNAP benefits,” Gormley said. “What I learned was that families are struggling all over the valley for a variety of different reasons. Going without SNAP is just a small percentage of those families. A large amount of our neighbors are going through tragedy, loss, emergencies, life altering events. Anyone’s circumstances can change in the blink of an eye, and I hope there will always be kind-hearted members of this community to step in and help in any way they can.”
Since Gormley began the Facebook group, she said it has helped around 100 families. That doesn’t count the help other members of the group, not affiliated with her directly, might be providing to each other. It boasts more than 1,000 members.
I’ve never in my life experienced the kindness like they showed me, and they don’t know me at all. I don’t know how to explain it, because I was in awe of it myself.
A recipient of aid from Flathead Valley Giving Table
One recipient of aid from the Flathead Valley Giving Table, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said she turned to the group after her husband left her and her two children. He had been the family’s sole provider.
“I’m one of those people where it takes an act of God for me to ask somebody for help,” she said.
But with her family’s sole provider gone, rent to pay and SNAP benefits stalled, she turned to the Flathead Valley Giving Table. She messaged Gormley, asking to come and get food for her children. What she gained from the interaction was a new friend and listening ear.
After listening to her story, Gormley put out a call to the Flathead Valley Giving Table group. They gave the woman food and fundraised money for her rent and electricity bill.
The woman also said Gormley has become a friend, despite them never knowing each other before she turned to Flathead Valley Giving Table for help. When her birthday came up, she told Gormley about not being able to celebrate with her children. Gormley showed up at her door with a card, baking supplies and a gift card to a shop in Kalispell. The woman described Gormley and the group as the “bright spot” in a dark time for her family.
“I’ve never in my life experienced the kindness like they showed me, and they don’t know me at all,” she said. “I don’t know how to explain it because I was in awe of it myself.”
The group has no requirements to receive assistance and thus far, hasn’t turned away anyone in need of help. Gormley said that’s been thanks to generous donations, from money, to winter clothes, to toys and of course, food items.
The group has opened a fundraising bank account at First Interstate, Gormley said. It also takes food donations, grocery orders, hygiene products, clothes, household items and more from the group members. It also received donations from a food drive held by Flathead Democracy at a recent protest about SNAP. Gormley added she’s talked with local food banks as the group works to coordinate efforts with already-existing local aid channels.
But for Gormley, neighbors helping neighbors is an important aspect of community building.
“Communities built with compassion, selflessness, kindness and tolerance will always be successful,” Gormley said. “The Flathead Valley Giving Table believes that when a few of us are walking through the darkness, the rest of us can hold out the light.”