HRDC’s Fork & Spoon, Montana’s only pay-what-you-can restaurant, partnered with Bradley Realty and Lot G Café to provide meals for Warming Center guests.

Kate Bradley of Bradley Realty approached Fork & Spoon staff about donating to pay for a week’s worth of dinner. With the growth of the area helping Kate’s business, she wanted to contribute to the community that is helping her business thrive. This idea quickly turned into a collaboration to use those funds in a more holistic manner. Fork & Spoon was able to utilize Lot G’s excess labor force to ease the burden on their own kitchen while putting money into supporting another local restaurant. For a full week, the staff at Lot G prepared and delivered meals for all Warming Center guests.

“With Fork & Spoon having a skeleton staff, we have the unique problem of lots of people to feed, but limited labor to do so,” says Fork & Spoon’s Head Chef, Leah Smutko. “It was awe- inspiring to watch how everyone’s deficiencies could be matched with someone else’s excess, just by working together as a community.”

“After all the growth that 2020 brought to our valley, I decided to donate to Fork & Spoon. I think it is truly important to give back to the community and organizations that keep Bozeman "Bozeman." Fork & Spoon provides such a vital service in our ever-growing town. I hope others who have benefited from the rapid growth decide to do the same, by reaching out to HRDC and asking what they can do for their fellow neighbors,” says Kate Bradley of Bradley Realty.

“Here at Inspired Madness, we support the amazing work HRDC does for our community and especially our under-served population. We were stoked to provide hot meals to the Warming Center,” says Serena Rundberg, owner of Inspired Madness.

Fork & Spoon is a vital part of HRDC’s response to address hunger in the area. Last week, the restaurant served 553 meals or roughly 92 people each night. About a quarter of these meals go towards feeding individuals in HRDC emergency housing. Since March, Fork & Spoon has served just over 22,878 free meals to community members experiencing hunger. HRDC’s Warming Centers in Bozeman and Livingston are seasonal nightly emergency shelters, which are crucial to responding to homelessness in the community.

For more information about Fork & Spoon or to make a donation, visit forkandspoonbozeman.org. For information about HRDC or HRDC’s homelessness initiatives, visit thehrdc.org.