The Hunger Coalition

It all started the fall of 2003, when Tom Iselin founded the Blaine County Hunger Coalition in response to the lack of centralized food assistance in our community. Iselin published “Food Cards” directing people in both English and Spanish to community resources. With the help of three volunteers, $10,000 was raised in a door-to-door campaign. By February of 2004, we were able to initiate the Food Voucher Initiative, providing people in need with vouchers to local grocery stores, allowing them to purchase food for themselves and their family. With the help of other social service agencies and volunteers, we began asking the community to pitch in with Food Drives, collecting non-perishable food items. By the end of the year, our first food bank was established in the basement of the Bank of America building in Ketchum. We are now an established non-profit, with three weekly food distributions in Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue, Idaho weekly. We have a plethora of programs aimed to help people in need in our community.