In spite of the visible progress, the East Missoula Community Garden isn’t complete. To make this garden grow, we need your help to secure the final bits of funding for this project.
Why Help?
There are countless reasons why East Missoula United (EMU) feels this garden will benefit our community. The community work days that have already taken place prove that this garden will unite our neighbors and encourage them to work together to build and better our park.
44 plots will be ready for planting this spring (2025). Have you applied for a plot yet? Apply for one here!
Investing in a community garden is a fantastic project for many reasons, especially in our small community which is often overlooked.
EMU feels this garden will provide community members access to fresh fruits and vegetables. East Missoula is one of the small communities that is considered a food desert, this garden helps to alleviate that challenge. By growing food locally, our community garden can provide fresh produce to our neighbors in need. Gardens help to alleviate hunger in many food-insecure areas.
This garden already provides educational opportunities, environmental benefits, and beautifies a space that wasn’t being used for anything. The grass was being watered, why not grow some food and flowers instead? A garden is much more beneficial to our neighbors and our pollinators.
Join us on April 22nd 9am-4pm for our annual event (no early birds or drop offs after 4pm PLEASE). We’re excited to announce that we applied for a Micro Grant through the Rural Grant Program via Missoula County and we have secured funds to help us host our event! Thank you for selecting us!!
And, a big thank you to Republic Services and Pacific Recycling for your continued support of this event. This wouldn’t happen without you.
Volunteer Opportunities
This event takes a LOT of volunteers, and we promise, it is a FUN day!
These are the tasks we need fulfilled:
1. Posters/Flyers/Signage – we need a few people to disperse posters to local East Missoula Businesses. We want our neighbors to know about this event, can you help us spread the word?
2. Truck/Trailer Pick Ups – We often have neighbors that need a bit of help moving items from their homes or from alleys. Do you have a truck (maybe even a trailer) and some muscle you could lend to our cause for a few hours? We’ll team you up with neighbors in need.
2. Onsite directing traffic and greeting our neighbors. We can set up shifts.
3. Unloading cars/trucks as they pull through. We often need helpers to speed this process up. We’ll have some extra gloves and vests on hand for those of you that are able to provide a shift of unloading. This is the BIGGEST JOB we need fulfilled!
4. Runner – things come up during the day where we may need help running a quick errand. Do you like errands? Maybe you can pick up our donuts/coffee?
Event Details
If you’re not able to volunteer, we still hope you’re able to take advantage of this service that East Missoula United works hard to put on for our neighbors. We also hope you don’t take advantage of this volunteer-run event. There are a few people that work EXTRA hard to make this happen and last year we had someone drop garbage after hours, after the dumpsters had already been removed from the site. Please don’t be this person! One of our volunteers had to make a trip to the dump with a full pick-up truck. 🙁
The Nitty Gritty
This is where you’ll find a complete list of items we can and absolutely cannot accept at our event. Message us if you have any further questions.
When:
We will only accept refuse during the business hours listed above. If our containers fill before 4pm, we may have to turn you away. We apologize for any inconvenience. 9am is our open time, and not before. We will have the area roped off to avoid early-birds. Remember, this event is run entirely by volunteers, so we help during those hours and not before.
What we can take off your hands:
Here is what we WILL and WON’T take: We’ll have a metal recycling bin from Pacific Recycling available, but the bin is strictly for the items listed in the document below. We cannot take your entire car, so please arrange for pick up of that elsewhere. Montana Public Radio has a program where they’ll pick up your vehicles, so reach out to them for more details.
We cannot recycle any containers that are closed, the pressure within can be very dangerous. Please read the detailed document above to learn what we can accept.
If you have cardboard or paper you’d like to recycle please visit Pacific Recycling, they have bins outside (*always open*) for the public to recycle.
Garbage Details:
We will have THREE 20 yard dumpsters on site at Burnich. We want to fill them up, but once they are full, we cannot take anything else. So, bring us your garbage!
Yard Waste:
We encourage you to take your organic yard waste to Garden City Compost. They have a free drop off ALL Day on Earth Day – April 22nd! We can give you further directions at Burnich, if you happen to pull through the lot. Review their website to see what they accept.
Hazardous Waste:
We cannot accept hazardous waste. Please visit the Missoula County Health Department for details on disposal of Hazardous Waste. It sounds like there are plans to open a permanent facility. Fingers crossed that happens soon.
Drive In Directions:
You MUST enter the parking lot from Minnesota Avenue, NOT Hwy 200. We cannot create a hazard in the middle of that busy highway, so please enter using the map below.
Thank you for all of your cooperation! We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, April 22nd. Happy Earth Month!
We want to thank all of you for your thoughtful donations during the holiday season. We gathered another mound of lights, as well as some financial donations, that really came in handy.
We sure hope you made it to the East Missoula Lion’s Park to visit the tree.
We have a handful of people to thank for going above and beyond.
Our neighbor, (East Missoula Community Council Member and East Missoula Lion) Jack Ballas is always there with a hammer in hand and an extra extension cord. He’s just the best, so if you see him, give him a humongous thank you! He helped get those lights lit.
Our friendly neighbor Ray has played an active role the past couple of years in lighting up the park. We appreciate you and your ladder climbing skills.
Our newest East Missoula businesswoman, Jess at Lady J Barbershop, was the dropping point for the light donations. Lady J shared on her social pages and was able to collect many lights for us to use on the tree. A squirrel had snacked on several of them, so we desperately needed more lights.
Finally, we are so grateful to Ben, at Headwaters Tree Care for climbing our tree (with that light snacking squirrel) and patiently replacing light strands. He worked for many hours. We couldn’t have done this without you!
If you’d like to be on the committee next year for decorating, please holler. We need all of the help we can get.
We apologize that we weren’t able to have/host our Solstice gathering and tree lighting celebration this year. We’re hopeful that in 2023, we can gather and toast to our bright magical tree.
Cheers to another year of East Missoula United and all of your amazing support!
2021 Holiday Gathering and Tree Lighting
We found a generous tree company to assist us with our holiday decor at the East Missoula Lion’s Park this year.
Headwaters Tree Care will be climbing the crooked tree at the park and revisiting each strand of lights. They will hang fresh lights (where needed) with care.
We’d love to compensate this generous company for their time, AND we will need to replace at least 1/2 of the lights that are hanging up the tree now. Please keep them in mind for your tree care needs.
We’re accepting light donations again. *Please Spread the Word!* It would be very helpful if you could check to be sure your lights work before you swing them by. Of course, new lights are very welcome as well. Financial donations will also be accepted to help pay Headwaters and/or buy more lights, if we aren’t able to get enough donations.
Sidenote: If all financial donations aren’t used, we’ll use them for our next postcard mailing. We promise your donation will go toward doing good for our community.
Here is a reminder of the delight the tree brought last year.
Finally, we welcome you to join us on the Winter Solstice, December 21st for a tree lighting and gathering at the Lion’s Park. Time of the event is TBD.
Light donations can be left at Lady J’s Barber Shop (she has a new location) at 3720 Hwy 200, Missoula, MT 59802. Barbershop hours are 10-5 Tuesday-Friday and by appointment on Saturday. Maybe you’ll need a fresh new cut while you’re there?
The light decorating will take place next week sometime, so the sooner you are able to drop donations or make a financial contribution, the better. We didn’t give ourselves a very big window to collect this year.
Financial donations can be made here. Feel free to leave a note in the comments if you’d like us to recognize your donation on our social media and website. All donations between now and December 21st will be used to light our community tree, and possibly bring warm drinks and snacks to our gathering on 12/21.
Psst: We heard a rumor Santa and Mrs. Claus might be there again!
Please let us know if you’d like to help in any way with our event or decorating process. We have a lot of opportunity if you like spreading holiday cheer!
It’s that time of year again. We had such success last year, and great feedback about our yard sale extravaganza, that we’re doing it again. This year, we have a few tips for you to make it even better than it was last year.
1. Email us your address, by August 15th, so we have adequate time to broadcast it. We’re making another map! This map can be accessed by everyone that “sails” through East Missoula on August 27th. We will have a link they can click, just like last year, and they’ll have a handy map on their device, ensuring they don’t miss a single sale.
2. We need you to add your own address to Craigslist. We would do it for you, but by doing it yourself you can add photos and descriptions of what you’re offering. As seasoned yard-salers would concur, this is appreciated, it will draw more traffic to your sale. If you don’t do this step, that’s okay, you’ll still be on the map, but we promise it will help bring the crowd.
3. If you are a Facebook User, feel free to add your sale to Facebook as well. We’ll publish our map on the East Missoula United FB page, feel free to share the map link in any/all of your listings.
4. We have sign making supplies you can pick up. We’ll have them available at an East Missoula location. Posterboard, an EMU head (so everyone knows you’re part of the club) and instructions on how to add your address and yard sale deets to Craigslist. We will email you the location you can pick up your supplies, after we get your address. We’ll make sure you have enough time to make your sign. Or, join us for our collaborative sign making event (see #5).
5. We’re hosting a sign making event at the Lion’s Park Pavilion, in case you’d rather not make your signs on your own. This evening of sign design will happen on the Thursday before our big event. August 25th, at 7pm. We’ll have paints, brushes and other supplies available for your use. This is not a required event, but we thought it might be helpful for those of you that might not have all of these supplies on hand.
6. Be sure you hang up your signs the night before the big community sale! Do this August 26th! This will draw traffic from Hwy 200 into our neighborhoods, to gather your treasures.
Here are the instructions for uploading your sale to Craigslist Missoula.
1. Follow this link => https://missoula.craigslist.org/
2. Click on “create a posting” in the upper lefthand corner of the page.
3. Select: “for sale by owner.”
4. Select: “garage & moving sales.”
5. Fill in the fields with your individual information. East Missoula United will have a posting as well, with a link to our map.
We still need volunteers! Check our list of needs to see if you’d like to help.
This is where you’ll find a complete list of items we can and absolutely cannot accept at our event. Message us if you have any further questions.
When:
We will only accept refuse during the business hours listed above. If our containers fill before 4pm, we may have to turn you away. We apologize for any inconvenience. 9am is our open time, and not before. We will have the area roped off to avoid early-birds. Remember, this event is run entirely by volunteers, so we help during those hours and not before.
What we can take off your hands:
Here is what we WILL and WON’T take: We’ll have a metal recycling bin from Pacific Recycling available, but the bin is strictly for the items listed in the document below. We cannot take your entire car, so please arrange for pick up of that elsewhere. Montana Public Radio has a program where they’ll pick up your vehicles, so reach out to them for more details.
We cannot recycle any containers that are closed, the pressure within can be very dangerous. Please read the detailed document above to learn what we can accept.
If you have cardboard or paper you’d like to recycle please visit Pacific Recycling, they have bins outside (*always open*) for the public to recycle.
Garbage Details:
We will have THREE 20 yard dumpsters on site at Burnich. We want to fill them up, but once they are full, we cannot take anything else. So, bring us your garbage!
Yard Waste:
We encourage you to take your organic yard waste to Garden City Compost. We can give you further directions at Burnich, if you happen to pull through the lot. Review their website to see what they accept. We will have a very limited number of passes available to Garden City Compost if you’ve got yard waste to drop off. If you’d like to donate a trailer to our event to collect waste, please contact us.
Hazardous Waste:
We cannot accept hazardous waste. Please visit the Missoula County Health Department for details on disposal of Hazardous Waste. It sounds like there are plans to open a permanent facility. Fingers crossed that happens soon.
Drive In Directions:
You MUST enter the parking lot from Minnesota Avenue, NOT Hwy 200. We cannot create a hazard in the middle of that busy highway, so please enter using the map below.
Why?:
This is for you, for our neighbors. We have sponsors to thank for helping us provide this ‘free to you’ service. We want you to take advantage of this opportunity to save on dump fees, to connect with this new neighborhood organization (East Missoula United) and to chat with other neighbors emerging from hibernation after a long winter. The events we hold are to connect us to one another.
Please reach out if you or a neighbor need help. We’d appreciate knowing in advance, so we can try and find volunteers to be where we need them on the 23rd. On that note, if you want to be a volunteer, we need you! We need all of the help we can get. We’ll feed you donuts.
Do you want to be part of something special in your neighborhood? It’s almost time for our 2nd annual Earth Day Event. Below you’ll find a list of volunteer opportunities (day of and preparations). Please help us spread the word and get yourself & your pals on this list of neighbors we can lean on.
Earth Day Volunteer Needs: 1. Movers. Some of our neighbors aren’t able to transport items they’d like to get rid of. Do you have the means and muscle to be on this list? 2. Drivers with Trucks! We need pick up trucks, do you want to volunteer yours for the day? Are you interested in making some trips to the dump, if our bins are filled? You don’t have to answer yes to both. 3. Crowd Control/Traffic Monitors. We need help in the parking lot of Burnich keeping the traffic flowing in the proper direction and keeping everyone safe. 4. Bin Monitors. Each of the dumpsters we’ll have in the lot, in addition to the Pacific Recycling bin, requires a monitor. This can happen in shifts, you won’t be stuck at a dumpster all day – unless you want to be. 5. Street Cleaners. Initially we had a vision of neighbors walking through the hood picking up trash. We found we didn’t have enough volunteers for that last year. Do you want to head this crew, or participate? 6. Park Cleanup. We hope to have a handful of folks helping the Lion’s clean up the park, that they so generously provide for this community. If this sounds like your jam bring gloves, rakes, shovels and a wheelbarrow (if you have them/one). 7. Yard Cleanup. We weren’t able to offer this service last year, but maybe you’d like to help your neighbor clean up their yard? We had a lot of unfulfilled requests in 2021. We can match you up with someone in need. 8. Posters. We need signage made and distributed for this event. We’ll recycle some from last year, but we need help hanging and dispersing signage throughout East Missoula. We can get a stack of posters to you if you’ll spread the word. Or, we’ll happily add you to the list for our sign making day.
We’re also looking for sponsors of this very popular (well-attended) event. We will acknowledge donors on our marketing materials and social media. Donations can be made here, or contact us directly for more info.
We had a lovely event on December 21, 2021. Mark your calendars for December 21, 2022 because we’ll do it again!
Here are a few photos from the magical evening and preparations throughout the month of December.
The helpers – thank you!
We want to acknowledge our helpers and volunteers. There were a few people that spent many hours at the Lion’s Park working on lights and decor. Matt at Rocky Mountain Line was especially gracious. He donated hours of time and use of his bucket truck to get that magical tree adorned.
Thank you to the River of Life church for donating cider and hot cocoa.
Santa and Ms. Claus were the most perfect addition. They almost didn’t make it all of the way into the park after being spotted at the fence by some kiddos. We hope they’ll join us again in 2022.
Thank you so much to the Lion’s who donated power and Jack Ballas for his time and burly extension cord. This community is a better place because of the East Missoula Lion’s and the park. *Psst: We were thinking it might be fun to have a skating rink!*
And, the biggest thank you to all of you who donated lights in 2021. You left them in that red bucket under the pavilion at the park. We can give ourselves a big pat on the back for making all of the pieces come together.
Remember if you’d like to volunteer to help with 2022 decor, we’ll take extra hands. We will decorate sometime after Thanksgiving, follow us on FB for event details or subscribe to our newsletter to ‘be in the know’.
In the Ole’s Parking Lot, we’ve got another variance to address. Please see the details below. Thank you!
Here we are again… We promised that we would do our very best to keep the neighborhood informed, but had no idea just how many times we would find ourselves in this spot, over and over again. The Ole’s lot surrounding the gas station. For many years, it has had a planned variation that would allow housing/apartments. The developer is asking for a revocation of the planned variation. Why might you ask? Well because the planned variation would only allow 44 units. If the property reverts to the same zoning as the rest of Ole’s, they can built 59 units! Three stories! More is better, right? I will not do more today than let you neighbors know the facts. Time is short, comments are due in a couple of weeks. Think about how you feel about this. Please post comments! We can meet as a group to discuss a unified message, if we have one. Check the links below, I am not sure how well they will work, but I have the originals and can forward them to anyone who needs them. Comments are requested by Monday, November 8, 2021. Thank you in advance for your consideration; your comments are much appreciated. Comments received up to that date will be included with the staff report and public hearing packet. Any comments received after that date will be brought to the public hearing.
Should you wish to attend the public hearings concerning this request, the public hearing before the Planning Board will be held on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 6:00 PM. See information on how to view the hearing and submit comments including a Citizen Participation Guide at: https://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/1149/AgendasWebcastsMinutes
Public hearing before the Board of County Commissioners will be held over a Microsoft Teams call on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 2:00 PM. To join the call on your phone, call 406-272-4824, Conference ID 513 904 676#.