Raffle will help Woodwick with medical costs

A group of artists is helping one of their own who has been helping the local community for years.

The Havre Art Association will start selling tickets Saturday in a raffle with the proceeds going to help pay for Vince Woodwick's treatment and travel costs as he fights cancer.

Kris Martens of the association said the group wanted to help him with the high costs he is incurring.

"He's a good friend and a fellow artist," she said. "We wanted to be able to help him out."

Tickets will be on sale at Creative Leisure and Norman's Ranch and Sportswear and each Saturday afternoon at Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods. The tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10 to buy a chance to win from a varied list of prizes, including tickets to the August Paul McCartney concert in Missoula and a quarter of beef.

The tickets also are available from members of the art association.

The drawing will be held July 12 at Gary & Leo's. Five separate drawings will be held, with ticket buyers able to indicate which prize they would prefer. Ticket holders will not need to be present at the drawing to win.

Marten said the association also thought Woodwick deserved some help for the work he has done in the area since moving back more than a decade ago.

Woodwick and his brother, Havre City Council member Allen "Woody" Woodwick, in 2002 started the Independence Day celebration held each Fourth of July in Pepin Park, and Vince Woodwick also has been active in many other events.

Those activities have included some historical work, including tracking and recording the history of rural cemeteries in the area and working with Hill County Commissioner and local farmer Mark Peterson to preserve the signatures and messages inscribed over decades on a bridge over the Milk River in northern Hill County.

But much of Woodwick's work has been with children. Woodwick has taught art and calligraphy to students at Havre High School and Havre Middle School, which also led to a mentoring project for him over the last year.

After teaching art at the middle school, several students started coming to him for more tutoring. That led to his working with The Girls, as he affectionately calls the group of all-female students, in projects including painting a mural at the Havre-Hill County Library, helping restore the Long George Francis Mural at the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum and painting Native American-based artwork on a teepee displayed in front of the Holiday Village Mall for the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump archaeological site located behind the mall.

"He's a good-hearted guy, very community-minded," Martens said. "He's a good-natured guy, always willing to participate, and also very interested in supporting art," she added.