The new building has just been a game changer.

A new beginning for a mainstay of the Helena, Montana, community. Serving the community better— that’s what this is about. The Helena Food Share celebrated its new location with an open house to the public... and inaugural cookies. These cookies were the first batch to come out of the oven. After more than 40 years in cramped quarters providing sustenance to food insecure families and individuals,

the new facility promises a 25% increase of more than 1 million pounds of food distributed in the first year to nearly 10,000 individuals in nearly 5,000 households.

Some of the new features include a grocery store–like market,

similar to a Bishop's Storehouse of the Church of Jesus Christ, that provides produce, dairy, and canned goods.

It's always been part of our mission to provide food for our neighbors in need, and to do it in a way that honors the dignity of people. The new building also provides increased warehouse space, including cold storage and a commercial kitchen that can produce

large quantities of food.

This is just going to be life changing for the amount of food that we can use, instead of wasting it. More than 800 organizations and individuals from the community stepped up to pay for $11.5 million of the $12 million price tag.

We're here because of the community. Our services had gone up 2,600% ,

and we did this building to be able to accommodate that kind of growth and not just the growth of numbers, but the growth of partnerships. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, one of those donors, contributed $1.3 million, the Church’s largest single humanitarian donation

in Montana.

Our commercial production kitchen and all of the equipment in it, all of the cold storage in this building, the large cold storage coolers and freezers, all of the retail cold storage here in this market, all of that was made possible through the donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You guys really made this kitchen happen for us. This was the game changer for Helena Food Share. And this is the part of the building for us that takes us into the future. We just want to be able to make an impact with our brothers and sisters that are here in the community because of our love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we know that He would do that if He were here. It was incredible

what’s going on here. So great job. Thank you. Latter-day Saints are also among the many volunteers at the Helena Food Share,

like Sister Marsh and Sister Crowell,

who are regulars that helped get the cookies ready for today's big event. We're giving out everyone cookies and showing them what our kitchen can do. The people here are the best, and I feel so appreciative just to do the little things. Just because I know this food share will help so many people. Because of our love for God, we are here to serve other people. I just think it's incredible that we get to share that love with everybody. It's very fulfilling to be able to make sure that no one in our community goes hungry.