Recap of fall semester, 2020 — in pictures!

Another semester has gone by, and what a rollercoaster it was! We’d like to take a moment to share some of our favorite memories & accomplishments with you.

This semester, the UM Food Pantry distributed a total of 6669.36 lbs of food and hygiene products. We served 147 people through in-person visits, including 90 new customers. We also distributed 302 lbs of food through our satellite pantries (aka Grizzly Cupboards) and 1,826.16 lbs through our Grab n’ Go program.

Our Grab n’ Go bags are filled with a variety of non-perishable food items, and are available for no-contact service outside of our normal hours of operation.

Thanks to Reliable Restaurant Repair, we were also able to get our commercial refrigerator fixed — and just in time for a huge influx of food!

We are so grateful for this additional storage, which also makes for a lovely display!

In the second half of the semester, we were able to raise 3,461 lbs of food & hygiene products through two separate donation drives.

In October, Matz Family Chiropractic clinic helped us raise 2,256 lbs of food & hygiene donations by hosting a donation drive for their annual Patient Appreciation Day benefit. This was indeed a great benefit to all!

Look at this amazing haul! Thank you, Matz Family Chiropractic clinic & patrons!

It was a lot of work to move all this food, but so rewarding!

In November, we partnered with Missoula Food Bank & others across campus for the annual food & donation drive, Can the Cats. In light of Covid-19, this event looked a little different from previous years, but it was still a major success. Our amazing sorority & fraternity students organized a contactless food drive in the U-district, which brought in 266 lbs of donations to the pantry. The UM Food Pantry received a total of 1,205 lbs of donations throughout Can the Cats!

Additionally, over $4,300 was raised through Campus Dining locations, and nearly $33,000 through Grizzly eSports’ streaming platform. A grand total of 671,707.9 in combined dollars & lbs of food was raised for the Missoula community during Can the Cats, 2020! WOW.

Here are just some of the donations that came in during Can the Cats. Photo credit: Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, from the UM school of Journalism

Our lovely volunteers helped to monitor the donation drop-off locations around campus for the entire two weeks of Can the Cats. Photo credit: Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, from the UM school of Journalism

On the final day of Can the Cats, volunteers stopped by to help weigh and sort through donations. Photo credit: Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, from the UM school of Journalism

We always check expiration dates before putting anything on the shelves! Photo credit: Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, from the UM school of Journalism

After the final weigh-in day for Can the Cats, the semester was nearly over. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we decided to put together some holiday-themed meal kits for our students.

Our meal kits contained stuffing & cornbread mixes, instant mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, microwavable popcorn, hot apple cider drink mix, and mint-chocolate truffles.

We reserved a table in the University Center during finals week & gave away over 40 Thanksgiving Meal Kits to UM students, staff, and faculty.

Many UM students won’t be going home for Thanksgiving, so we were glad to be able to send them off with all the standard dinner fixings in an easy-to-prepare form.

The leftover meal kits were advertised & made available to community members.

And that about sums up the semester! We are looking forward to planning & organizing over the break (not to mention resting), and we will be excited & ready to welcome students back in the spring.

As a reminder, the UM Food pantry will remain open over winter break on Tuesdays from 12 — 5 pm, and on Fridays from 10 am — 5 pm. We will continue to provide Grab n’ Go service during this time, as well as SNAP application assistance by appointment.

Congratulations to our UM students, staff, and faculty for making it through an exceptionally challenging semester! Have a lovely Thanksgiving, everyone.