HRDC decorates doors for Women's History Month

District 4 Human Resources Development Council in Havre is celebrating Women's History Month by covering its office's doors with decorations celebrating famous women of past and present.

"March is Women's History Month, and we just wanted to do something fun that would include the whole agency," Abuse Program Renae Miller Shelter Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the Domestic said.

Miller said her department proposed the idea about a month ago and she is satisfied by how many people chose to participate.

"We had 17 people participate out of the whole agency, which is pretty good," she said. "... There are definitely a few empty ones, but we had quite a bit of participation."

Because everyone at the HRDC has their own office, they were free to choose how they wanted to decorate, Miller said.

"Everyone kind of picked a theme or person that they wanted to represent, and then they decorated their doors themselves," she said.

"Some of the ones people did were Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Amelia Earhart. I did Frida Kahlo, Catherine Johnson. Some people have multiple women on their door and do a theme," she said.

Other women included Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the Women's Suffrage movement and a famous abolitionist, and Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross.

Kahlo, who Miller put on her door, was a Mexican artist of the '30s and '40s famous for her self-portraits and her unique folkart style.

People who participated were not short of inexpensive materials, Miller said, who managed to decorate her door for less than $3.

"Head Start, they have a lot of paper materials that they have left over from their classrooms, so a lot of people borrowed those," she said.

Miller said that women's history month has special significance for HRDC, given how many members of its staff are women.

"We have 13 women in leadership positions at HRDC right now, and 88 percent of our staff are women, so it really ties into just coming together and honoring the women that work at our agency," she said.

Miller made a point to mention that female leadership is not unique to Havre's office.

"Eight out of 10 community action agencies in Montana have executive directors who are women," she said. "... Sometimes people feel like women may not be represented in Montana because it's more of a conservative state, but we actually do a really good job of taking over leadership roles."

Miller said that plans for next year haven't been made, but she does have some ideas.

"It was really fun. We haven't talked about it necessarily, but we could always change it up and do something for Black History Month, Native American Heritage Month, do something along those lines instead," she said.

HRDC's Facebook page is holding a contest. Pictures of all the decorated doors have been put on the page and the one that has the most likes by Friday will be named the winner. Miller said she has a personal favorite.

"One of our directors in Head Start did (U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and it looks amazing," she said.