Can the Cats Food Drive 2023

This winter season, The Advocates are sponsoring the Can the Cats Food Drive in Missoula. We’d love to have the community at large participate in this friendly competition while helping collect food items for the local food bank. 

What Is Can the Cats?

This food drive is a friendly, off-field competition between the University of Montana Grizzlies and the Montana State University Bobcats, along with the communities of Missoula and Bozeman as a whole. The two cities work to collect food and funds for their local food banks. At the end of the drive, all the donations are weighed/counted. The city that donates the most wins!

Last year, the Grizzlies collected more than 428,000 pounds of food, but were beat out by the Bobcats, who gathered more than 600,000 pounds. Missoula hasn’t “canned” the Cats in three years—let’s make it happen in 2023. Our goal is 500,000 pounds or dollars donated.

Donations in Missoula will benefit the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center and the University of Montana Food Pantry.

How Can I Help?

There are several ways to contribute to the Can the Cats Food Drive. The first is to donate non-perishable food items, like canned and boxed pantry items. The most needed items are canned beans, peanut butter, bulk rice, oats, and flour.

You may also donate turkeys, potatoes, onions, and carrots to be used for holiday meals. These food items also count toward the total weight of donations.

If you are unable to contribute food items, you may make a financial donation to the food bank. Each dollar will be counted as one pound of food.

Donation details can be found below.

Food Drive Fast Facts

• One in five people in Missoula County rely on emergency food services.
• Can the Cats helps provide more than 2,500 holiday meals to local families and individuals.
• This annual drive creates food diversity that the food pantries don’t often receive during other times of the year.
• In 2022, the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center served more than 24,000 people—almost as many as fit in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
• If every person in Missoula donated $6, we would reach our goal in one day.
• If every person in Washington-Grizzly Stadium donated $20, we would reach our goal in one football game.

Event Details

Dates: November 4-18. The Grizzly-Bobcat football game on November 18th is the last chance to donate.

Drop-off locations: The Advocates’ Missoula law office

910 Brooks St. Suite 103

Missoula, MT 59801

Other drop off locations throughout Missoula can be found here.

Financial donations: Donate to Can the Cats directly using this QR code: