Festival of Trees to help fund more expansion for Boys & Girls Club

This Thanksgiving’s fundraising campaign for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line will have an extra incentive with aspirations of another expansion to the facility.

Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Resource Director Carrie Aageson said they have plans to increase their own transportation to and from the facility.

“What we found out is the kids in the housing projects aren’t coming,” HELP Committee Executive Director Krista Solomon said. “So we had meetings over there, and we met with families and we said, ‘We’ll give you free memberships if that will help.’ They said, ‘That’s not the problem; the problem is the ride home at the end of the day.’”

Club Director Tim Brurud said the interviews were conducted with the families in August. The club has 360 kids signed up as members, he added.

Solomon said the club has a partnership with Havre Public Schools in which the district drops off the kids at the Boys & Girls Club after school, but some parents still may have trouble picking up their kids.

This year’s Festival of Trees will focus on raising funds to fix this issue. The club is hoping to raise enough money to build a garage for its bus, Solomon said.

Aageson added they already have one full-time bus driver and are in the process of adding two more drivers.

The Festival of Trees is in its 11th year and will feature 16 uniquely designed trees that come with various gifts. Attendees can bid on the trees in the auction.

They also can play the Five Golden Rings game, for a chance to win five rings from Heirloom Jewelry and J.M. Donovan Designs in Fine Jewelry valued at more than $5,000, Solomon said.

“Our donors who put those trees together spend just an unbelievable amount of time and money putting those together to help support the club,” she added.

All items available for auction are based of the festival’s theme which, is 12 days of Christmas, Solomon said.

Staff member Krystal Steinmetz said each donor picks their tree theme and decorates accordingly.

Karen Vosen, coming off of having quilts selected once again for showing in an international festival, is donating a quilt to the festival for the 10th year. The quilt will be sold in a reverse auction.

Aageson said that in a reverse auction, an item starts out at the maximum bid and then starts to get lower and lower. She added that it also works like a raffle in that every dollar amount equates to a certain number of tickets for the auction.

“Say for instance $5,000,” she said. “So if we get a bidder for $5,000, for this particular event, that bidder will have 50. So a ticket per every $100. That person would have 50 chances to win that raffle item. Then the auctioneer will go down to maybe like $4,500, $3,000 or $3,500 and get as many people in at each of those amounts. All of that money goes in. It’s cumulative.”

Vosen, who this year had two quilts juried in for selection at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, has been making quilts for the event for 10 of the 11 years.

Vosen said she likes making the quilts for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line because her own children went there, and she likes the work the club does.

The Festival of Trees is the signature fundraising event for the year Aageson said. Solomon said that last year’s festival raised about $60,000.

Aageson said that some of the alumni from the Boys & Girls Club come back to attend the festival to help out and talk about what the club has helped them to accomplish. Solomon added they are in the process of creating an alumni group to help former members keep in touch.

The festival provides a good opportunity for people from the community to come in and see the Boys & Girls Club’s facilities and see the services that the staff provides, Aageson said.

Aageson added that people who attend the auction will have a chance to cast a vote for their favorite tree design to be awarded the People’s Choice award.

Staff members of Boys and Girl’s Club of the Hi-Line said they would like to thank the community and the donors for all their support throughout the years.