Volunteers, community supporters make Havre a great place to live

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and staff.

That very special time of year is upon us and was officially kicked off Saturday with the lighting of the community tree at Town Square.

Many hours of behind-the-scenes planning and work goes into the community tree lighting, the decorating of the community for the holidays.

Thank you to everyone who helped this year — from washing and fixing the holiday pole decorations, to getting the tree adorned with its new 1,000 new lights to providing many helping hands that make the tree lighting and the arrival of Santa a special community event. We are very grateful to their efforts and time. Those who volunteer during the holidays and throughout the year are community members who are willing to step up and undertake a service and give back unselfishly to something they believe in and support.

Thank you to Dave Rhines and R.L. Grant for their help with their bucket trucks and many helping hands to make our community tree at Town Square a magical site.

Thank you to the city crews for making our community look festive with all the holiday decorations and banners.

Thank you to all who helped with organizing the tree lighting this year — Chandra Moomey, Brian Jenkins, Joe Ross, Shawn Holden, Kathy and Mike Palmer and the Chamber Ambassadors.

Thank you to Leadership High School students John Chinadle and Tatiana Ralph for making the tree lighting a magical gathering for the children.

Thank you to members of HHS Hi-Liters and Belles Voix choirs for the wonderful holiday music.

To Santa, thank you for making the tree lighting a magical gathering for the children.

Thank you to the Salvation Army for providing the huge crowd with hot chocolate, and to the radio and newspaper for sharing the holiday message.

Thank you to all who celebrated the holidays at the community tree lighting this past weekend.

During this time of year, many people give unselfishly of their time to make the holidays a little more special for all of us. I would like to thank everyone who volunteers in our community, from the hospital to their child’s school to their church or belong to a local service organization.

Sometimes thank you just doesn’t seem to be a strong enough expression of one’s gratefulness. The Chamber has hundreds of people who support the Chamber and its many activities hosted for the community to enjoy. Thank you to each and every one of you. Havre is a great place to live because of you. Merry Christmas.

(Debbie Vandeberg is executive director of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce.)