Chris Sidmore, the executive director of the Flathead Food Bank, understands on a personal level what the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can offer to a family.

“It’s kind of funny how life works,” Sidmore said. “Sometimes, I think back on things in the past, and it seems like another lifetime ago, but … when I was a teenager, I was raised by a single mom, and we used SNAP benefits. I just think, like, I was a kid. I had no control over that, but man, it made a huge difference. That’s really one of the things that allowed us to, you know, have some food on our plate, which was great.”

The program Sidmore relied on to feed him in his youth today helps more than 77,000 Montanans pay for their groceries. That includes more than 5,800 people in Flathead County, nearly 2,800

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