Order up!
The Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) is the only statewide food bank in the country, covering more than 10,000 highway miles per month and serving food to hundreds of thousands of people every year. In 2012, the organization distributed 7.4 million pounds of emergency food to nearly 200 agencies!
Although the MFBN hosts many events year-round, the organization’s crown jewel crowd-pleasure is the Big Sky BBQ, a community cook-out held in conjunction with a local brewery. The Big Sky BBQ has become one of the organization’s largest (and tastiest) fundraisers. “Thousands of people attend every year,” says Katie Lane, Volunteer Coordinator for the Montana Food Bank Network. “It’s a fun mix of delicious BBQ, local beers and live music.”
“With VolunteerLocal, it was easy to set up my event, job descriptions and shifts. The volunteers were able to sign up at their convenience and all of the information was gathered for me. VolunteerLocal allowed me to use my time to work on event preparations rather than inputting data into a spreadsheet. I will absolutely use VolunteerLocal for our future events.”
-Katie Lane, Volunteer Coordinator for the Montana Food Bank Network
As you might imagine, it takes many volunteers to make this great event happen each summer. This year, the MFBN got a taste of another kind of craft product – a midwest-based volunteer management software. “VolunteerLocal really streamlined the process,” says Lane. “Before [using VolunteerLocal], I had to individually contact hundreds of prospective volunteers and keep a running spreadsheet of their names, shifts, contact info and shirt sizes for each of our major events. It was really cumbersome and time consuming.”
Now, the Montana Food Bank Network can ditch the spreadsheets and sharpie markers, instead focusing on what it does best: eradicating hunger. “We have been feeding hungry Montanans since 1983.” That’s 30 years and counting, MFBN – thanks for bringing VolunteerLocal along for the ride!
