Smith’s Donates $15K To Food Bank of Wyoming As Demand For Help Grows

The original story by Dan Cepeda for Oil City News.

Smith’s Food & Drug is putting real money behind its hunger relief message. The grocery chain held a ceremony this week to announce a $15,000 donation to the Food Bank of Wyoming, aimed at helping food-insecure families across the state at a time when need is climbing and donations are tightening.

Tina Murray, head of communications for Smith’s, said the company is making similar monetary donations to food banks in all seven states where it operates. The cash support is one piece of Smith’s broader Zero Hunger–Zero Waste initiative, which also focuses on keeping usable food out of landfills by donating shelf-stable items and unsold food nearing expiration to local pantries and food banks. The idea, she said, is simple: the less food that’s thrown away, the more people can be fed.

In Casper, Smith’s is also running a food drive at its CY location from Nov. 1–15. Everything collected there will go straight to the Thanksgiving food distribution event run by the Salvation Army and Joshua’s Storehouse on Tuesday, Nov. 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Leaders from the Food Bank of Wyoming, Joshua’s Storehouse, the Salvation Army and the City of Casper joined Smith’s employees for the check presentation, using the moment to talk frankly about how deep food insecurity runs in Natrona County right now. Deborah Davis of Joshua’s Storehouse said donations have dropped even as more people show up needing help. The pantry has already had to cut back from allowing families to visit twice a month to just once so shelves don’t go bare. The ongoing federal shutdown and pause of SNAP benefits has made that balancing act even harder, she said, noting that most of their clients are working but still can’t keep up with rising costs.

“It’s not about people being lazy,” Davis said. “It’s about food insecurity and people having to choose what monthly bills they’re going to pay first, and food is obviously going to be the last thing that you purchase after home and shelter and everything else.”

Casper Mayor Ray Pacheco called donations like Smith’s “critical” as the holidays approach and lines at food banks and the Salvation Army grow longer. He said Casper has a history of stepping up for its neighbors and urged residents to keep doing exactly that.

Olivia Schon, director of development for Food Bank of Wyoming, said the organization has started to see more monetary donations from individuals as the shutdown drags on and people better understand its impact on their neighbors. She emphasized that every dollar given in Wyoming stays in Wyoming — and that money often goes further than canned goods because of the food bank’s buying power. A couple of dollars at the grocery store might buy a single can of green beans, she noted, but that same donation to the food bank can turn into a whole case.

For now, the message from everyone in the room was the same: the need is real, the pressure is growing, and every check, every donated item, and every bag dropped in a collection bin is helping keep families fed.