Our View: Thankful on the Hi-Line

Here in Havre and on the Hi-Line we have a lot to be thankful for this weekend. In your own way, think of the people in your life and your community you would like to thank this week.

• Trina Crawford, the staff and volunteers at the Salvation Army in Havre provided high quality service to people in need at a very low cost. Transients coming into town without money. Single moms who don't have money to pay the heating bill. Children with no coats during the cold weather. They all turn to the Salvation Army where they get help.
• Speaking of low-cost programs, Court Appointed Special Advocates serve without pay. They investigate problems with young children who have been tossed into the court system through no fault of their own. They offer advice to judges on what the future of children who have been abused, neglected or caught in bitter family disputes. Many CASA volunteers go a step beyond and befriend the children, becoming friends and mentors. Be thankful for Pat Floyd, one of the CASA volunteers, who helped out a young woman headed toward a life of crime and hopelessness. The young lady is now going after her GED and plans to go into social work.
• Thursday, a group of people will be domonstrating everything that is good about Havre. Volunteers will gather at St. Jude's Parish Center and prepare a Thanksgiving meal for several hundred people. They will home-deliver the food to the disabled, and cook the meal for the hundreds of people from all walks of life who attend the community gathering each Thanksgiving. Debi Rhines will head up the volunteer effort, but lots of people help out, preparing food, serving it, waiting on tables, delivering the meals and cleaning up afterward.
• We wish we could name the person we'd like to thank for providing the funds for the Thanksgiving meal. We can't because no one knows who that is. Someone for decades has been providing the funds with the one condition that his or her name not be used. Whoever it is. the person has the lasting admiration of the entire community.