Livingston Enterprise
Six months after Park County resident Matt Pierson started the Producer Partnership in April, the organization has grown substantially.
The partnership is now officially its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and is on track to hit the 60,000-pound mark for meat distributions.
Since late April, when the effort started, the Producer Partnership has delivered 41,000 pounds to food banks in Montana, with just under 20,000 pounds currently being processed, Pierson said.
They got word about the partnership’s official nonprofit status a few weeks ago, said Pierson, who owns Highland Livestock Company.
There are many things internally the partnership needs to do, and it has found people willing to help across the state, working on everything from taxes to distribution to processing, Pierson said.
The partnership takes in donated animals from around the state, pays for the processing and donates the hamburger to local food banks.
Pierson got the idea early on in the COVID-19 pandemic when one of his ranch hands said, “Look at all this hamburger walking around.”
After reaching out to other producers, who agreed to donate cows to the effort, Pierson hasn’t stopped working to make the partnership bigger and better.
He started out driving the meat around in his truck, Pierson said, and now he has access to a freezer trailer and the resources of the Montana Food Bank Network to distribute the meat around Montana.
“Getting (the Food Bank Network) on board was excellent,” Pierson said. “It was a huge help.”
In addition to helping with distribution, Park County Community Foundation Executive Director Gavin Clarke said, the fFood Bank Network can also pinpoint where the meat is most needed.
Pierson said he wants the Producer Partnership to donate so much hamburger to the Food Bank Network that it doesn’t have to buy meat.
“We live in a state with 3 million cows. Coming up with 140,000 pounds of meat shouldn’t be a problem,” Pierson said.
As more and more meat has been processed, so has more money come in from donations.
Starting with a $3,500 initial grant from the Park County Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Resilience Fund, the Producer Partnership has raised more than $130,000 from around the country, Clarke said.
Thursday, Pierson was at the foundation’s office in Livingston, where Clarke gave him a check for the remainder of the donations collected by the foundation, passing the proverbial baton.
Clarke said the partnership has elicited responses from people all across Park County.
“When there’s a need in Park County, people really come and rally for each other,” Clarke said.
Producers from around Montana have donated cows to be processed for the partnership, Clarke said.
People from all over have reached out to be part of the partnership through donations, Pierson said, and he has many goals for the future, one of which is for the partnership to become a household name.
“Little by little we’re gaining,” Pierson said. “Not bad for six months of learning.”