The famous Brawl of the Wild game is this weekend, but off the gridiron, the rivalry is bringing people together to better their community. In Helena, people are enjoying some friendly competition through food drives.
Evan Charney reports - watch the video here:
Drives, such as the one going on at Jefferson Elementary and other schools across Helena, are allowing students to get in on the healthy competition by donating to the drive on behalf of their chosen team.
“I think it's really important to make sure, since it's coming up on Thanksgiving time, to make sure everyone has food for Thanksgiving,” said 5th grader Jack Goldin.
Jefferson started doing a food drive last year around December, but changed their date to adjust to the Cat-Griz matchup just ahead of the holidays.
Hundreds of kids have donated with the goal of supporting families and people within the community.
“It teaches them that we are a family, and it gets them to want to help others and take care of their family,” said principal Brice Burton.
The drive runs through the end of the week, and food will be distributed to families next week before the holiday. But they’re not the only ones holding Cat-Griz food drives.
Helena businesses are banding together to collect food donations and raise money for the Helena Food Share as well.
One business, Capital Hill Team powered by Premier Mortgage Resources, has collected over 5,000 pounds of food so far, and that number is only going up. Three other businesses pledged to donate one dollar per pound of food, estimating to raise over 15,000 dollars for the food share.
“You know, if you've been in Helena a long time or grew up here, you know how our community is,” said Capital Hill Team branch manager Corey Hill. “It doesn't matter what the cause is, we rally.”
The Helena Food Share has received almost 33,000 pounds of food over the last two weeks, with over 7,000 pounds going out daily to over 4,000 people.
The food share sees the most donations during this time of year. They know of almost 60 different food drives going on in Helena right now.
“It sort of chokes me up sometimes to know that everyone in this town thinks that food support for people is important, and is willing to step up when that need is the greatest,” said Tim Joyce, Helena Food Share development director.
No matter where you stand on the Cat-Griz rivalry, by coming together, we can all make a difference in our community. For more information on how to support the food share, please visit this link.
