Thank you to the community

I would first like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season from the Chamber Board of Directors and the Chamber staff. During this time of year, many people give unselfishly of their time to make the holidays a little more special for all of us. And we are very grateful to their efforts and time.

Sometimes thank you just doesn’t seem to be a strong enough expression of one’s gratefulness. As I proceed you will soon see what I mean. It takes many people willing to give unselfishly of their time to make something happen for many to enjoy. The community tree lighting that was held Saturday at the Town Square is one those times.

Many hours of behind the scenes planning and work goes into the community tree lighting, the hanging of the holiday decorations, the Santa Run, Lunch with Santa and all holiday community events. Thank you to the all who helped with the organizing of the tree lighting this year — Joe Ross, Shawn Holden, Debbie Callahan, Stacy Mantle, Shauna Albrecht and the Chamber Ambassadors.

To Cole Kline and Dave Boles from NorthWestern Energy thank you for your time to make our community tree at the Town Square a magical site. Thank you, Shawn Holden and Joe Ross for your technical support and your time to decorate the Square.

Thank you to the weekend city crews for making our community look festive by hanging the holiday decorations. Thank you to all that participated to make the evening a holiday memory, from the wonderful music provided by members of Belle Voix, to the hot chocolate provided by the Salvation Army to help take the edge off the cold, to Santa for making the tree lighting a magical gathering for the children. To the Chamber’s Leadership High School students, thank you Bryant Wolf and Meggie Zook, for entertaining the crowd with your holiday costumes and to Cortland Brenna, Shaylan Brough and Chido Chikwava for helping with the drawing for the kids baskets. To the Elks Club, thanks for allowing costume changes to take place.

Thank you to BNSF for sponsoring our Havre Santa Run and to Debbie Callahan and Shauna Albrecht for your work organizing the Santa Run and to Scott Young and Norman’s for being the registration site and to The Athlete’s Foot for your prize sponsorship for the winning runners.

Thanks to the Havre Police Department for being great partners in making the race route safe and to all the participants. As you can see, many volunteered to make this holiday season in Havre so special and Thank you all.

What is a volunteer? A person who is willing to undertake a service and give back unselfishly to something they believe in and support. The Chamber has hundreds of people who support the Chamber that fit this definition – and thank you to each and every one of you. The Chamber is strong because of you. And I can’t finish without a very special thank you to our dear friend Norm Gorder, who recently passed, for his commitment and dedication to our community through volunteering. Merry Christmas to all.

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