Volunteers honored for serving poor

Volunteers who keep Havre's needy housed and fed gathered at St. Jude Parish Center Monday night.

Salvation Army, Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen and Havre Food Bank honored people who give their time in support of their causes.

Part of the program involved having people who have benefitted from the programs over the years tell their stories.

Ila McClenahan, pastoral care and activities director at Northern Montana Care Center, and the evening's keynote speaker, spoke of what the Salvation Army has done for her family.

Her mother, born of Norwegian immigrants, ended up in Havre when her mother, Ila's grandmother, suddenly died of a heart attack. Her father, fearful he could not take care of his young daughter and maintain a job, brought her to Havre, where Emma Nelson, a 74-year-old friend, raised the young child.

This was during the middle of the Great Depression, Ila said. One Christmas, there was no chance her mother would be able to have any kind of Christmas celebration. There was no money for gifts, no money for food.

She and Emma Nelson were in their small apartment on 9th Avenue, feeling depressed. When a knock sounded at the door they assumed it was a friend.

"It was a man in a uniform," she said. "He was from the Salvation Army."

He had two baskets - one full of food, one with Christmas gifts.

Years later, her mother would list in detail what was in the baskets.

"Chicken, yams, vegetables ... ," she recalled her saying.

She listed the toys, including a special doll.

But mostly she remembered a small wooden horse with legs and a head that moved as it walked.

McClenahan was near tears as she told of her mother's happy reaction to receiving the gifts, especially the wooden horse.

Then McClenahan reached for a package on the podium, unwrapped it and held it's contents up for the audience to see.

It was the wooden horse her mother had received from the Salvation Army 85 years ago. It has remained in the family all these years.

"It meant so much to my mother," she said. When her mother died, it was the first item Ila wanted from her house.

For the rest of her life, Ila's mother didn't once passed a Salvation Army kettle at Christmastime without making a donation, no matter how small.

Not long ago, Jamil and Keeley Moore, a young Havre couple, had some rough times financially.

They had no jobs and were looking for anyway to get by.

The Salvation Army gave them food, helped them with gas and assisted them in getting needed car repairs, Keeley Moore told the audience.

The couple are now on their own two feet and are self-sustaining, she said.

"We can't thank the Salvation Army enough," she said.

The Moores were in a new Salvation Army program. The Salvation Army doesn't just provide emergency food and fuel, but works with them over a period of months to get them on their feet.

Trina Crawford, executive director of Salvation Army's Havre Service Center, told of the progress the Moore's made during their time in the program.

Keeley was called to the front twice Monday night: first, to tell her story of how Salvation Army helped, then to be honored as a volunteer.

She now does work for the Salvation Army, especially at Christmastime.

"She's our computer whiz," said Crawford.