Our View: Giving thanks for a great community

Living on the beautiful Hi-Line in a great, warm-hearted community, we have a lot to be thankful for.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, here are just a few things we have to be thankful for.

• The Salvation Army and its director Trina Crawford have a small cadre of volunteers and a tiny budget, but they do a lot to clothe the needy, provide shelter to those who need it, get heating aid to people with no money and give Thanksgiving and Christmas food and gifts to young people who otherwise would do without.

• The Hi-Line is a big area. It’s hard to get from one place to another if you are disabled, have no automobile, are too elderly to drive or have a broken car. It is a little easier now that North Central Montana Transit system has a started operating bus lines that bring people from places such as Fort Belknap and Chinook into Havre and back. It will be better when a city run begins so people can travel to their doctors, their grocery stores and other establishments and return.

• Every day Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen provides hot meals to people who are in desperate need. The food comes from donations by local people and businesses, and congregations from area churches provide the money needed to keep the place running. Volunteers do the cooking, serving and dish-washing. Feed My Sheep offers food for the needy and it uplifts the spirit of the desperate.

• Setting up a major recycling program in a remote area such as the Hi-Line is not easy. But the programs that have been created here are the an example for the rest of Montana to follow. Candi Zion, through hard work and a will of iron, has created Recycle Hi-Line and has a faithful group of hard-working volunteers that have established a monthly recycling program that helps save our environment and reduce material going to the landfill. They have also done a great job of educating people on the need to recycle and perform other tasks to preserve our exceptionally five environment on the Hi-Line. What’s the future of the recycling movement? You need to look no further than to Joe Vernon, the student sustainability coordinator at Montana State University-Northern, who has done superhuman work to advance the program at the college. Paper, newspaper, cardboard and plastic are recycled in a campus-wide effort.

• No one personifies the spirit of the Hi-Line better than Toni Hagener. For nearly 60 years, she has been involved in every aspect of Havre life. She was one of the leaders in the effort to preserve the buffalo jump. She was elected a Hill County commissioner long before women were expected to do such things. She served in the Montana Legislature. She’s active in senior citizen groups. If there is a benefit for just about any cause, you can count on seeing Toni there. She is a walking encyclopedia of Hill County and Hi-Line history, going back centuries or just going back to last week. She shares her knowledge willingly with everyone. She always has a kind word for everybody.

• Eleven years ago, when the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line opened, some organizers were afraid no kids would show up to take part in the activities. The problem, as it turned out, was that there wasn’t enough room for all those who did come. Thousands of youngsters have gone through the doors of the Boys & Girls Club since opening day. They have been provided with quality educational program and wholesome entertainment. The club is filled with people having a good time playing basketball, studying with books, learning on computers, playing pool and much, much more. They are thankful this Thanksgiving for the volunteers who donate time, the contributors who have been generous with donations, the staff that has worked above and beyond and mostly for the children who have given their hearts and souls to the program.