Helena Food Share

Helena Food Share's Mission is to serve our neighbors in need by providing food in a respectful and dignified way and, by working with others, eliminate hunger in the greater Helena area. 1 in 7 of our Montana neighbors struggles with hunger. That includes 1 in 5 children who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Helena Food Share was founded in 1987 to provide emergency food to neighbors facing hunger. Families come to the Grocery Share Market during difficult times. These folks need help when they struggle to pay medical bills, manage a disability, navigate a layoff, or make ends meet on a low or fixed income. No matter the situation, we are dedicated to serving our customers with dignity and respect and providing our neighbors with emergency food to help in any circumstance.

Helena Food Share is home to several programs uniquely designed to reduce hunger in our community:

• Grocery Share Market: Offers weekly and monthly choice-based shopping for nutritious groceries, serving families and individuals, including seniors and veterans, who are facing food insecurity.
• Kid Pack Program: Ensures school children have food over the weekends by distributing kid-friendly food packs to Head Start and pre-K through middle school children in Helena, East Helena, Boulder, Basin, Canyon Creek, and Lincoln school districts who need food support over the weekends.  
• Senior Programs: USDA Senior Commodities food boxes are distributed to income-eligible seniors every other month. Income-eligible seniors may also receive Senior Farmers Market coupons to buy fresh produce at local farmers' markets during the summer and fall.
• Emergency Food Packs: Packs with high-calorie, easy-to-open and eat food and water are distributed to 16 community, emergency and human service providers, supplying immediate nutrition for individuals in urgent need of food.
• Nutrition & Sustainability: Of the 2.21 million pounds of food distributed in 2025, Helena Food Share rescued 878,680 pounds from local stores. Good food that would have gone to the landfill is shared with our neighbors in the Market and other food programs. Our commercial kitchen utilizes some of that food to prepare nutritious meals for Market distribution. The Community Room teaching kitchen and demonstration garden host cooking classes, nutrition education, and sustainability programs. Solar panels on the roof produce an average of 38% of our electrical usage.
• Agency Collaboration: In partnership with St. Peter’s Health, we prepare and distribute Food Is Care boxes for customers managing diet-sensitive conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.