Groups look to Giving Tuesday for support

Some Havre organizations including the MSU-Northern Alumni Foundation and Opportunity Link Inc. are looking for help on a day created to share during the Christmas season.

Both groups have put out calls for people to remember that the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving is #Giving Tuesday, a day set aside for people to help nonprofits with donations.

According to the website givingtuesday.org, #GivingTuesday was founded in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y’s Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact.

The idea behind the movement was to utilize social media to connect people, communities and organizations “to celebrate and encourage giving.”

The day set for Giving Tuesday follows the two days considered two of the hottest shopping days of the year — Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that many businesses count on to start making a profit for the year, and Cyber Monday, a day promoted by marketing companies as the best day to shop online.

The Northern Alumni Foundation, a melding of Montana State University-Northern’s funding foundation and its alumni association, solicits funding for projects at Northern — such as its completed Applied Technology Center and the under-construction Diesel Technology Center — and for scholarships.

The Foundation has regularly been putting out email and social media messages with a countdown to #GivingTuesday.

“With the growing cost of higher education, gifts like yours can be the determining factor in a student attending college,” Foundation Executive Director Jim Bennett said in a post emailed last week. “Whether it’s paying for a text book, course fees, or housing, our students need your help to achieve their goals and your gift can do just that.”

Opportunity Link, a regional anti-poverty group founded last decade through a grant by the Northwest Area Foundation, a foundation established by the family of Great Northern Railway founder James J. Hill, said in a press release it is looking for help Tuesday to continue and expand services at North Central Montana Transit.

The need for a transit system was one of the earliest major needs identified by Opportunity Link. The entity spearheaded the creation of the bus system, which provides transportation Monday through Friday back and forth between Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and Havre and Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and Havre, with stops in between the end points on both routes. The buses also provide routes throughout Havre and the system makes runs to Great Falls on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The system works in partnership with the transit systems at Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy.

The system provides transportation for about 100 people a day, including senior citizens, children and individuals with disabilities, Opportunity Link said in the press release.

The release said the system needs some financial help.

“Opportunity Link and North Central Montana Transit are joining #GivingTuesday this year to maintain our current routes and potentially increase services,” the release said. “We keep our fares low to ensure that those in need of transit services can meet their needs. Our revenue has not kept pace with our rising costs, making it difficult to continue to provide the necessary services to residents of Hill and Blaine counties. Your contribution will help residents maintain jobs, access medical services and meet other needs such as accessing healthy foods and social services.”

The release said people interested in joining Opportunity Link’s #GivingTuesday initiative can visit opportunitylink.org and click on “Get Involved.”

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Online: MSU-Northern Alumni Foundation: northernalumnifoundation.org

#GivingTuesday: givingtuesday.org

facebook.com/GivingTuesday

twitter.com/GivingTues