ASSOCIATED PRESS
LIVINGSTON –
A bakery in southern Montana that is expected to provide job training
and fresh bread to residents and food pantries statewide has started to prepare
for opening day. The Livingston Community Bakery expects to open in less than a
month about 25 miles east of Bozeman, “Montana Public Radio”
reported.
The goal of
the bakery is to provide free artisan bread to any food pantry in the state
that wants it, Executive Director Michael McCormick said. Bozeman-based company
Quality Food Distributors has agreed to then transport the bread pro bono, he
said.
The bakery
is an extension of the nearby Livingston Food Resource Center that provides
people in need with food, opportunities in culinary education and economic
development, McCormick said. The center serves about 700 people, or about 10
percent of the city population, he said.
The center
has served about 150 loaves each week, but with the bakery, the organization
expects to more than triple the number, officials said.
The bread
will also be made with Montana grain, McCormick said. “We’re teaching
people a trade, we’re creating a new market for Montana farmers who
are growing wheat and grains, and we’re feeding people in ways that’s truly
nutritious and will help them be well. So we cover a lot of bases when we do a
project like this,” he said.
