{"id":11981,"date":"2016-05-11T07:11:39","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T13:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=11981"},"modified":"2016-05-11T23:19:08","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T05:19:08","slug":"in-ballantine-were-the-church-that-feeds-the-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/05\/in-ballantine-were-the-church-that-feeds-the-children\/","title":{"rendered":"In Ballantine, &#8216;We&#8217;re the church that feeds the children&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-11981\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"11981-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-11-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-11-1-771x487.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Six-year-old Manny Bartel, left, and 5-year-old Jeffrey Nilsen dig into a meal at the Ballantine Congregational United Church of Christ. Click on the arrow at top right for more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-8-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-8-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Drinks, salads and bowls of peaches are ready to go.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-2-Oltrogges-1-771x513.jpg*771*513\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-2-Oltrogges-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Doug and Rita Oltrogge spend four to five hours a day in the church kitchen.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-3-1-771x449.jpg*771*449\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-3-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Tiffany Rahman, the daughter of the Rev. John Dyce, takes part in activities with kids who stop in the at the church after school, before supper is served.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-7-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-7-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A sign in the door leading to the church basement.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-1-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-1-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Most of the food comes from the Billings Food Bank, but other donations help.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-6-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-6-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The Congregational church in Ballantine is small, but it's having a big impact. <\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide8\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-10-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-10-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Rita Oltrogge hands a plate to a waiting diner.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/dinner-is-served-1-771x485.jpg*771*485\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/dinner-is-served-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Dinner is served.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide10\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-9-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-9-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>People who drop in for meals can also take food home.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"11981-slide11\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dyce-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dyce-1-771x508.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The Rev. John Dyce was drawn to the church specifically because of the meal program for children.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 11981, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/05\/in-ballantine-were-the-church-that-feeds-the-children\/', 11 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>BALLANTINE \u2014 It was a jar of pickles that convinced Doug Oltrogge that something needed to be done.<\/p>\n<p>Late last July, grant funding for a summer-lunch program served at the Ballantine Congregational United Church of Christ ran out three weeks before the start of the new school year.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Oltrogee and his wife, Rita, were volunteering at the program, and as Rita said, \u201cWe had kids that last day who asked us, \u2018We\u2019ve got three weeks. What are we going to eat?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So the Oltrogges started serving lunch themselves, to tide the kids over until school started. And one day, as he was preparing lunch, Doug Oltrogge found an empty jar of pickles, which he knew he hadn\u2019t left out, and soon after that he found a half-eaten pack of stale doughnuts.<\/p>\n<p>After a few more similar incidents, it became clear that somebody, most likely kids from the neighborhood, were somehow breaking into the church. They weren\u2019t stealing anything else and they weren\u2019t doing any damage. They were just taking food.<\/p>\n<p>It was the pickle jar that stuck in Oltrogge\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was pretty obvious these kids were hungry,\u201d he said. \u201cThey broke into a church to eat pickles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>He and his wife decided to do something about it, at first thinking maybe they\u2019d cook and serve a meal at the church every Wednesday evening. But they quickly realized that wasn\u2019t enough, either, and so they began serving supper five nights a week, every Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n<p>About 10 days ago, they served their 5,000th plate of food. They\u2019ve had lots of help, from church members and other residents of Ballantine, and they receive regular food shipments from the Billings Food Bank and bread from the Salvation Army in Billings.<\/p>\n<p>Other help came from the Catholic church in Ballantine, churches in nearby Huntley and Worden, the Project Merc grocery store in Worden, Huntley Project Schools and Tiger Town, a gas station, motel and laundromat in Ballantine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just kind of amazing to me how everyone stepped up to help when we needed it,\u201d Rita Oltrogge said.<\/p>\n<p>The Oltrogges spend four to five hours a day volunteering at the church, serving peanut butter sandwiches and other snacks to kids who get off the school bus in front of the church and then serving supper to all comers between 5 and 6:30 p.m. in the church basement.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11982\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-11982 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-12-1.jpg\" alt=\"Oltrogges\" width=\"336\" height=\"278\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rita and Doug Oltrogge started the five-day-a-week meal program in the Ballantine Congregational United Church of Christ.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>They\u2019ll serve somewhat more than 30 people on an average night. During their busiest month ever, they prepared 830 plates of food.<\/p>\n<p>The new minister at the church, the Rev. John Dyce, started just three weeks ago. A native of Billings who most recently served a church in Buffalo, Wyo., Dyce first heard of the Ballantine church during a Congregationalist conference last year.<\/p>\n<p>The Rev. Jim Smith, then the pastor in Ballantine, told him, \u201cWe&#8217;re becoming known as the church that feeds the children.\u201d Dyce said his thought was, \u201cWow, I want to be part of that, somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He soon got the chance, when Smith took a new position and Dyce applied to replace him. Dyce was there for supper Monday evening, enjoying a meal of chicken Alfredo, green beans and garlic bread\u2014as well as salads, peaches and desserts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery meal is cooked,\u201d Doug Oltrogge said. \u201cWe don\u2019t put it on paper plates. We put it on china.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He does most of the cooking, and he and Rita don\u2019t seem to care if the children eat their dessert first, or how much they eat, for that matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a soup kitchen,\u201d Doug Oltrogge said. \u201cI\u2019m going to feed them what kids should eat. \u2026 If it comes to us plentifully, we\u2019re going to give it out plentifully.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11995\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-11995 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ballantine-5-1.jpg\" alt=\"Cal\" width=\"336\" height=\"262\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Calvin Miller, 12, found the cupcake finger-licking good.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Oltrogge, 60, grew up in Ballantine and was baptized in the Congregational church when he was 5. He is able to spend so much time volunteering because he took an involuntary retirement three years years ago when his Chron\u2019s disease made it impossible to hold down a full-time job.<\/p>\n<p>He said he\u2019s happy to have the time to volunteer, and he doesn\u2019t want to take credit for getting the program going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a lot of forethought,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just kind of happened.\u201d As for his role, he added, \u201cI\u2019m a spoon, I\u2019m a spatula, I\u2019m a kettle, I\u2019m a frying pan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, in addition to being the church that feeds children, it is also something of a community center. Lots of kids who live in a trailer court across the street from the church head for the church basement after the school bus drops them off, then hang out until their parents arrive to join them for supper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor some people it\u2019s a form of socialization,\u201d Doug Oltrogge said. \u201cThe mainstay of socialization in most of these small towns is the bar, but even the bars are going away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt isn\u2019t really about the food,\u201d Rita Oltrogge said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLANTINE \u2014 It was a jar of pickles that convinced Doug Oltrogge that something needed to be done. Late last July, grant funding for a summer-lunch program served at the Ballantine Congregational United Church of Christ ran out three weeks before the start of the new school year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[4327,4330,1786,4328,4332,4333,4329,4331],"class_list":["post-11981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","tag-ballantine","tag-ballantine-congregational-united-church-of-christ","tag-billings-food-bank","tag-doug-and-rita-oltrogge","tag-huntley-project-schools","tag-project-merc","tag-the-rev-john-dyce","tag-tiger-town","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}