MISSOULA — The Missoula Food Bank and Community Center is making major strides towards energy efficiency.
The organization unveiled 60 solar panels that will aid in generating electricity for the facility on Thursday.
Food Bank executive director Aaron Brock said that those units will end up saving the food bank roughly $3,500 in annual energy costs, allowing them to divert funds to more programming and food purchase.
Missoula City Councilman Bryan vos Lossberg commended the food bank on Thursday for their efforts in contributing to the city’s 100% clean electricity initiative saying they are the perfect example of how you make progress towards such an ambitious goal.
Brock says the implementation of solar panels makes sense as it aligns with their mission to help those less fortunate.
“Climate change and weather disproportionately affect low-income individuals more than others,” said Brock, “So as we not only address the acute instance of hunger in our facility, we also want to be realistic about the things we can do globally that address systemic causes of food insecurity and all the economic injustice that goes along with that.”
The project received funding from NorthWestern Energy and the Treacy Foundation, and the installation was completed by Satic, Inc.
