Last May, just two months after opening Cutthroat Bagel Company at 28 Lupfer Ave., owner Dan Moe told the Pilot he was interested in “giving back to the community in the ways that a bakery can and should.”  

Moe is a man of his word.  

When SNAP benefits expired at the end of October amid debate over the use of emergency funds at the federal and state level, Moe saw that a bakery elsewhere in the country would offer meals to affected community members. 

Although it wasn’t his original idea, Moe said of the act, “This is just something bakers do.”

"If I wake up in the morning and SNAP benefits didn't go out, then I'm going to follow suit,” Moe remembers thinking to himself on Oct. 31. “I had set aside some cash, and on Saturday morning, just on an Instagram story, I let people know that if anyone needed a bagel and a schmear that day, that they could come get it.” 

When it comes time to pay, the social media post instructed people to say, “My neighbor’s got me,” and the bagel is on the house. Initially, the funding came from Moe’s own pocket. 

"My partner threw in some cash and I mentioned it to a few other people, and they all threw in cash,” he said, adding that after he made the announcement, “the outpouring ... was crazy.” 

“The people who wanted help, thought what we were doing was cool, thought what we were doing was right, and [were] hoping for more people from the community to do so,” he said. “At the end of Saturday, we looked around, and that was the busiest day we've had in ages.” 

Moe said his shop saw many first-time customers who wanted to support feeding people in the community. The tremendous response and the recognition from other local businesses gave Moe the impetus to make a bigger post on Sunday. 

"People were calling, people were emailing, people tried to give me cash that morning,” he said, adding that he assured the potential donors that the plan was financially sound for at least the next couple weeks. 

Should the need for more funding arise, Moe said there is a long list of people who will “fall over themselves” to give him cash so he can feed people. 

“It's such an elemental thing for someone to walk in and say that they need help, and especially when it's food. How much more basic can you get?” Moe said. “And if there's any way that we can help to eliminate any of the BS that goes on between a hungry person and food that we've made, then I want to be able to do that.”  

Still, he was worried that people would want to come in and ask to get something free. That fear was alleviated when a customer on Saturday came to the counter and said, “We were wondering if our neighbors have some bagels for us?”  

“We were able to give away bagels and schmear to hungry folks who lost their SNAP benefits, and it was a very smooth thing for them,” he said. 

Moe hopes the people he helped this weekend will feel comfortable coming back to the bagel shop. 

He noted that there is no need for people to worry about any negative effects from accepting bagels from the Cutthroat Bagel Company. None of the money is coming from the business. 

“It's all getting paid for,” Moe said.  

That includes wages and tips for his staff and all additional costs, although he has yet to see any. If they arise, he said he is happy to make up the difference. Moe’s staff is on board with the plan and has been moved by the meaningful nature of what they are able to do. 

"However the politics play out, however people feel about who's in Washington or who's in Helena, there are people here who don't know where some of their next meals are coming from, and we are a business that exists, at the same time, that makes food,” he said. 

JUST DAYS BEFORE Moe announced his plan to offer free bagels, Will Hammerquist, owner of the Polebridge Mercantile, said in a letter to the Daily Inter Lake, “The Polebridge Mercantile is a bakery – not a vehicle for political advocacy,” after people congregated there for a No Kings rally. 

"That really got me fired up,” Moe said. “It's his First Amendment right to not let protesters onto his private property. But I think that's a missed chance. 

“I think that bakeries, in particular, food businesses in general, are vehicles for political advocacy,” Moe said. “Whether you are speaking out or not speaking out, you're engaging in politics, whether it's for the status quo or change one way or another.” 

Throughout history, cafes and food spaces have fostered conversations and connections. Often, bakeries were the hub of protests and political upheaval. Moe noted that the French Revolution didn't get into full swing until both bakers unions went on strike at the same time, sparking the famous, callous, “Let them eat cake,” response. 

This is not the first time in Cutthroat Bagel Company’s eight months in business that Moe has followed the neighbors helping neighbors model.  

For several months in the summer, the bagel shop charged an extra dollar for huckleberry schmear and gave the collected “bucks for hucks” to Wild Montana to help protect public lands. This season, the shop is collecting a dollar for each pumpkin spice schmear sold. The funds are earmarked for Housing Whitefish. 

“What's the point of being a community bagel shop if we can't also help and support the community and harness some of the excitement over these really good new bagels into excitement over enhancing the housing opportunities for the people who work in my shop, or the rivers for the customers who come in here?” Moe pondered. “If this works the way it seems to be, that only inspires us to be bigger and louder and more helpful -- to creating conduits for the community, to help out in different ways.” 

JERSEY BOYS PIZZERIA hopped on the neighbors helping neighbors train on Thursday, and announced it will dish up a lunch special, no questions asked, to anyone who comes to the restaurant and says, “My neighbors got me.” 

Inspired by Moe, Jersey Boys owners Jelisa and Pete Byl also encourage donations to any of the area food banks. 

North Valley Food Bank – www.northvalleyfoodbank.org.

Columbia Falls Food Bank and Blackfeet Food Bank – www.mfbn.org.

Bigfork Food Bank – www.bigforkfoodbank.org.

Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry – www.veteransfoodpantry.org.

Flathead Food Bank – www.flatheadfoodbank.org.