ELLSWORTH — With the lengthy government shutdown leading to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits being delayed, Colten Sothman, the owner of Down to Earth Tree Service, was not going to let people go hungry.

“We’re not your typical residential tree service. I work for numerous different insurance carriers, and we do disaster relief all over the nation. We do residential, I do commercial, but our main focus in life is storms,” Sothman said. “We get called out to absolute ground zero, especially hard-hit areas.”

Sothman has seen people stepping up firsthand when the government is not completely filling the gap, so ways to help people is always on his mind. He continued to see posts on social media of people struggling with food security and decided to attempt to feed about 50 families through his business. He asked Casey Waltz, who runs Waltz Ace Hardware in Ellsworth, if they could use the parking lot Nov. 7 to hand out the food because the two have worked together for equipment in the past. That’s where it all started to blow up into something Sothman never expected.

“He was like, man, I want in,” Sothman said. “I kind of was shocked for a minute there, and I’m like, okay, I’m just going to message all my friends that own businesses.

“I didn’t have a single friend tell me no,” Sothman said.

People committed money, food and time to feed 206 families, much more than Sothman dreamed of.

“Pierce County Food Shelf… they’re posting it, next thing you know this posting is getting like 50, 60, 70 shares,” Sothman said. “It was just like this big crazy culmination of all of us. Literally, in two days we were able to feed 206 families.”

They got help from so many local businesses and people along the way. Due to the success, Sothman is exploring passing out food monthly, starting a non-profit and also a campaign to take children Christmas shopping. Some business owners have already expressed interest in joining him.

“If I put my mind to it and I can get the right group of guys behind this, I don’t see why we can’t do 500-1,000 families every month,” Sothman said. “We’re going to just pile in, batten down the hatch and we’re going to feed as many folks as we can.”

A lot of places willing to help around the country required a SNAP card or an ID of some form. That’s not how Sothman wants this to operate.

“I’ll help anybody. I don’t care if they’re taking advantage of the system or they actually need it. If somebody comes to me and they say they need to eat, I’m not turning [anyone] down.

“People think SNAP is people who are lazy, or who don’t want to get a job or who don’t want to go out and try to better their lives. People don’t realize not everyone has that courtesy,” Sothman said.

Sothman lost his home to a structure fire this year. Many people reached out, and people that he did not even know were showing up to support. There were no questions asked, just like Sothman’s group when handing out the groceries.

“I didn’t even have clothing to my name. I had a shirt and a pair of pants that I owned, and that’s it,” Sothman said. “I bet you I had 300 phone calls that day. I had people showing up to my house I didn’t even know. That’s when it hit just how tight-knit our community really is.”

When they were handing out food, some recipients did not have anything to feed their children that morning.

“We don’t pocket our money. We don’t go on vacations. We’re not driving around in fancy crap. I put my money where my mouth is. When I make money, I spend money,” Sothman said. “People that have the means to help, it is our absolute responsibility to do so.”

Sothman said businesses like that are the ones that he recommends to people.

“When we come together, the power we have as a group is unparalleled,” Sothman said.