Veterans group ready to fill Vets Food Pantry

Proceeds from the ninth annual Hogdick & Mitch Memorial Run for the Veterans will be used to donate upwards of $15,000 worth of food items to the Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry in Kalispell.

The group will be filling two large delivery trucks at Bigfork Harvest Foods on Nov. 11 that will be delivered that day, Veterans Day, to the food pantry.

“This event has impacted many veterans in the Flathead and Mission valleys not only because of the food donations but also through the other donations, which include four veterans scholarships to Flathead Valley Community College, Project Homeless and Winter Warm-up and several others,” said John “JP” Pettigrew, president of the nonprofit organization, Richard HD Fliehler Memorial Run for the Vets, which coordinates the annual Hogdick & Mitch Memorial Run.

Pettigrew said the group works with the Flathead Valley Wounded Warrior program and the Flathead City-County Health Department on veteran projects, and recently contributed money to the disabled veterans bus project at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls.

“This year we are adding a Native American Veterans Scholarship to Salish & Kootenai College in Pablo,” Pettigrew added. “There are numerous other veterans project we donate to and we are proud of the impact we have made in the lives of the veterans we help.

“We are a 501(c)3 organization and we could not do this without the many volunteers that work with us during the year and also at the event,” he continued.

Next year’s memorial run for the veterans will be May 25, starting at Rocky Mountain Roadhouse in Bigfork.

“We will once again have a Harley Davidson motorcycle for our annual raffle, along with many other items donated by local businesses to make this a successful event,” Pettigrew said.

Anyone wanting to make a donation to the Richard HD Fliehler Memorial Run can send contributions to P.O. Box 2974 Bigfork MT 59911.