Havre Police Protective Association donates to Christmas Dinner

The Havre Police Department Police Protective Association donated $500 to the Community Christmas Dinner Friday.

"I love it," Havre Eagles Club manager and chair of the community dinner Tom Farnham said. "It shows they care about the people in town and want to make sure it continues."

He said the community dinner has been at the Eagles Club for more than 40 years, starting with Bob Sivertsen, who ran the dinner for 25 years before passing it over to Jerry Bergren and his family, who ran the dinner for 10 years, then turned it over to the Eagles Club. 

Farnham added that the Community Christmas Dinner is not an Eagles Club event, but a community event, which is organized, sponsored and put on by the community every year for the past 40 years. The dinner will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25.

A large number of people and organizations donate and volunteer for the dinner every year, such as Havre Jaycees and the Eagle Riders Club, he said. He added that other than the Havre Police Protective Association, the community dinner also received donations from many people and organizations.

The Christmas Dinner includes a turkey dinner with all the fixings, such as mashed potatoes, yams and corn.  

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich said that it was the first year the Police Protective Association has donated to the Christmas Dinner. He said the association also donated to the care center, Havre swim team, youth hockey and the Angel Tree program.

Havre Police Protective Association is a local branch of the Montana Police Protective Association, Matosich said, adding that every department has an association.

The money donated by the association comes from the Havre Police Departments annual concert fundraiser, and other fundraisers including free-will donations at National Night Out and some other fundraisers throughout the year.

He said the money raised in those fundraisers goes right back into the community, a large majority of the money goes youth programs, sports and scholarships.

"Wherever we can help out," Matosich said.

One of the sergeants in the department suggested donation to the Community Christmas Dinner this year, he said, adding that it was a great idea and something the department would like to do in the future if they are able to. 

"It's a good program, a good cause," Matosich said.

Farnham said that his favorite thing about the dinner is that everyone is welcome, no matter who they are. He added that the first-year he organized the event he saw someone who was very low-income eating, laughing and sitting across from another person who was very wealthy.

"Only on Christmas Day would that happen," he said.

He added that the dinner is also important because people who have nowhere else to go for Christmas or are shut in and can't go out to have dinner can still have a good Christmas meal. A number of elderly people cannot do a lot of work to put on a Christmas dinner themselves, and this is a nice way of being able to still give them a meal they can enjoy, Farnham said.

"People are so cheerful that day," he said.

He added that, depending on the weather and people's ability to travel, he expects anywhere from 750 to 800 people.

The event is free for everyone, he said. He added that people who need take out orders or delivers should call the Senior Citizens Center at 265-5464 by Monday, Dec. 23, to place their orders.