Debt-free lunch in Columbia Falls School District thanks to nonprofit organization

COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. — Schools have been in session across Montana for about a month. Several school districts received free breakfast and lunch during the school year.

Columbia Falls School District is one of the schools that has the opportunity to care for its students.

“With the community-wide grant program, there is no application for it,” Cory Dziowgo said. “We’re not going to run out of resources, so no one is taking advantage of the opportunity to get a free breakfast or a free lunch every day.”

With a new opportunity for the school district this year, a local nonprofit called Gap Fillers stepped in to pay off the previously negative lunch bills, ensuring a clean start to the school year.

“So when I first arrived in Columbia Falls,” Dziowgo said, “the Gap Fillers reached out to me pretty early on and explained their mission, what they wanted to do to help schools and families in the Flathead Valley.”

Gap Fillers’ mission statement extends to both helping students with lunch debt and providing medical equipment and feminine products to those in need.

“When they worked with us, they spoke up and said they were ready,” Dziowgo said. “We have some donors and some generosity coming your way. We just want to know what your students’ negative lunch balances are, and we were happy to help them.”

Gap Fillers helped pay off $9,000 in Columbia Falls students’ negative lunch accounts.

“I just appreciate that everyone is focused on helping with gap fillers,” Dziowgo said. “Really for stepping in and taking this burden off our families.”

To learn more about gap fillers in the Flathead Valley, click here.