Published on: November 25, 2025
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North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish, MT, says businesses and community members' generosity will allow them to provide Thanksgiving meal supplies to the over 800 families they expect to serve. (Sabrina Ripke/Pixabay)
Changes to SNAP benefits have Montana food banks working hard to help families this Thanksgiving.
North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish has been preparing for this for months.
Sophie Albert, executive director of the food bank, said they are expecting record-breaking food distribution this year.
"Originally, we planned for anywhere between, like, 550 to 600 families, which is already a significant increase from the past couple of years," Albert pointed out. "Now, we have ramped it up to 800."
Albert noted the increase is due to the lapse in SNAP benefits during the government shutdown and new SNAP work requirements taking effect in December. To qualify, nondisabled adults aged 18-64 without dependents will have to work or be in a training program at least 20 hours a week.
Albert stressed the new rules could cause 12,000 Montanans to lose their benefits. She added families were already struggling with higher housing costs and more expensive groceries over the past few years. Over the last few weeks, she reported North Valley Food Bank has seen at least 50 new households coming in each week, and more people coming in more often.
"Maybe some families in the past just needed to come to us the last week of the month because their benefits had run out, or their budget had run out for the month," Albert observed. "Now they need to come more frequently."
Albert emphasized the community response is still going strong, with more than 20 community-led food drives in the Whitefish area in the past few weeks, which has helped them collect enough food to give all the families they serve a turkey or ham, and all the Thanksgiving staples. She described meeting the need as a marathon and not a sprint, and emphasized the food insecurity crisis is far from over.
"We're ready for the moment, and we're hoping that everybody who needs food will come to us," Albert underscored. "We'll also hope that we see this community support continue for the next couple of months."
