The man who brought the Veterans Stand Down and the Veterans Food Pantry to NW Montana has died. Allen Erickson (pictured) died at his home in Kalispell last Saturday. He was 86.
A frequent guest on the KGEZ Good Morning Show, Allen Erickson, who served in the Navy, had an affinity for veterans and put that to use, beginning in 1999 withe annual Stand Down in Libby. We’re told upwards of 1,500-veterans showed up that first year and that it has grown ever since. In 2000, he started the NW MT Veterans Food Pantry on Hwy 2 East, where veterans could get not only food supplies, but clothing and other needs. The fact that veterans were homeless in the Flathead was something he simply couldn’t condone.
His latest project is Camp Ponderosa, an 80-acre campground near Seeley Lake. Throughout his life as a veteran, he was challenged with health issues related to Agent Orange–the defoliant used in Vietnam.