An Exclusive Look at One of Butte’s Brightest Community Services

BUTTE, MT - Are you involved with any nonprofits in Butte, MT?

Chances are, you probably either work with one or are directly involved with one. I can say that confidently because Butte is a bit of a unique town when it comes to the nonprofit routes: there are about 186 active organizations in the Butte/Silver-Bow area alone. When you consider our population size, that number is extremely impressive, and shows how our community is dedicated to servicing and being there for others. Even a city like Bozeman isn't far ahead of us, with their total active nonprofits exceeding just over 200.

With so many awesome organizations come so many awesome people. Recently, Butte's nonprofit sector has seen a great deal of success, with one of the most notable being the $1 million+ donations that covered Butte Rescue Mission's building conversion of an old warehouse in town into a sprawling center of resources, services, and administration for Butte Rescue Mission (BRM) and the world beyond.

READ MORE: Massive Donation to Butte Rescue Mission Means Bright Future for Butte

Speaking of awesome people, I was lucky enough to sit down and have a conversation with Brayton Erickson, Executive Director and leader of BRM. We talked a lot about BRM's past, what they've accomplished, and what they hope to accomplish not only with the warehouse conversion, but with the entirety of the organization going forward.

If you haven't heard of BRM before, that's okay. You'll definitely be hearing a lot about them going forward. In a nutshell, BRM focuses on three important human needs: clothing, shelter, and food. Clothing is usually a person's first instinctual donation, as so many are fortunate to have an abundance of clothes and donate. BRM takes these donations and gives them out for free out of an "open closet", giving clothes to those in need—especially during the winter season.

Food is definitely one of their strong suits, though. Just last year alone, BRM saw a 16% increase in their food meal service, making it their most successful ever in terms of food distribution. In other words, they served food to the most people they ever have in 2023. And, just to add more food to their plate (pun intended this time), they are out on calls serving food or working with other local lunch programs. Plus, their free food pantry is always there to serve, as if the other duties weren't enough. The numbers really are staggering: they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day, with Brayton telling me that 200 meals are served each day. Last year, that equated to 90,000 meals served. Holy cow.

Finally, taking a look at their shelter programs, the impressive feats do not waver. They have an emergency shelter location for families and individuals with 16 beds and private rooms, with a second shelter location bearing a whopping 60 BEDS for anyone who deems it necessary. That's a ridiculously high amount of beds, with even towns with high populations barely scraping the bottom of that number. They're one of the only shelters of this capacity in a 100 mile radius, making BRM the hub for sheltering those in need.

There's plenty more that BLM does, such as job programs and long-term sheltering, plus a ton of community resources. But now they'll be able to do much more with their newly funded Warehouse Project, with a dedicated administrative space for the team—so they don't have to keep working out of a trailer. This new building will feature 10,000 square feet of food storage, more shelter options, and a medical center. Now that's something to be proud of. The demo and construction commencement is on May 3rd at 11am, located at 610 E Platinum. All are welcome.

"Okay," you may be thinking, "how can I help?" BLM is always looking for volunteers, but Brayton told me the best thing you could do is donate more food. "The more food we get, the more we can help," he said. Also, the funding for the Warehouse is not over, as they are still seeking donations to help fund the parking lot and interior furnishings. All donation information can be found here.

What do you think? Have you worked with these guys before? One thing is for certain: Butte has a much brighter future thanks to Butte Rescue Mission.