Page 12 - Flathead Beacon // 5.14.14

12 | MAY 14, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Veterans Food Pantry Pursues New Housing Project

Northwest Montana Veterans Tickets are $100, and only 2,000 will be sold.
“It’s good enough odds that I even bought a ticket,”
Stand Down and Food Pantry hold- Erickson said. “And I’m known for not winning any-
thing.”
ing rale for project; irst prize The organization bought the land in order to raf-
$20,000 or 1.6 acres of land
le it of, he said, and the prize money will come from
the ticket sales. The winner will be announced at the
Armed Forces Day Banquet on May 17 at the Hilton
By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
Garden Inn in Kalispell.
Tickets for the banquet are $40, and the evening
Allen and Linda Erickson continue to dream big will include a social hour at 5:30 p.m., followed by live
when it comes to helping the Flathead Valley’s home- music and dancing, a guest speaker and a silent auction.

less veteran population.
The new facility would include more than 40 units
The couple started the Northwest Montana Veter- A volunteer carries soup donated from a local restaurant into the for permanent housing, along with six or seven tran-
ans Stand Down and Food Pantry in their backyard, Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry.
sitional housing units, Erickson said. There would be
which progressed to the pantry’s current location in a BEACON FILE PHOTO
a community kitchen, though the permanent housing
11,098 square-foot building on U.S. Highway 2 in Ever- units would have their own kitchens and bathrooms.
green in 2010. Now the Ericksons have their eyes on a Erickson said the project, which is still in its na-
bigger prize: a 50-unit housing facility for veterans.
scent stages, looks like it will cost around $4 million “IT’S GOOD ENOUGH ODDS THAT I EVEN
It’s a natural progression for the organization, Al- for everything he wants included, and the food pantry
BOUGHT A TICKET, AND I’M KNOWN FOR
len Erickson said last week.
is close to acquiring the land in Evergreen he thinks
“I’ve been thinking about it for years,” he said. “We would be perfect for the facility.
NOT WINNING ANYTHING.”
were helping people two days a year, and now we’re Erickson, who was in the U.S. Navy from 1957 to
helping them all the time. There’s too many guys and 1963, believes that by providing permanency in the Allen Erickson
gals with kids and without kids out in the boondocks lives of these homeless veterans, they would be able to
who should have a place they can aford to live in.”
access other services, such as mental health care, with
At the current food pantry, homeless veterans can greater ease and success.
understand where the sadness and the happiness come

shower and launder their clothes, get food from the “We’re going to do everything we can to build peo- from,” Erickson said.
pantry and ind support in a community that under- ple up and help them,” he said.
To help make this dream a reality, the Northwest
stands what they’ve been through, Erickson said.
Montana Veterans Stand Down and Food Pantry is For rale tickets and tickets to the May 17 banquet,
holding a rale, with the irst prize a choice between 1.6
visit www.veteransfoodpantry.org or call 756-7304. Being able to house homeless veterans would be a
big boost for this segment of the population, he said. acres of land west of Kalispell or $20,000. Tickets can also be purchased at the Veterans Food
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES OR
“I’ve talked to a lot of my homeless veterans and Second prize is a $3,500 bronze sculpture by Ace Pantry in Evergreen.
they prefer to be around veterans for the simple reason Powell, third prize is a painting by Mark Ogle, and [email protected]
that they’ve been there and they’ve done that, and they
fourth prize is a Marc Stringfellow print.

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