How COVID-19 affected the Holidays

Ever-present in the lives of people in Montana, the country, and around the world is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected nearly every aspect of life including the holiday season, which has seen local events cancelled or changed for the sake of public safety.

Some events adapted to meet safety restrictions and still had success, with some still to come.

The annual Community Christmas Dinner, with no in-club eating allowed, is set for people to pick up meals and to have meals delivered Friday at the Havre Eagles Club.

One event that saw its structure change significantly was this year's Festival of Trees.

Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Marketing and Events Director Krystal Steinmetz said the event is the club's biggest fundraiser of the year, typically drawing between 200 and 250 people.

This year, however, the centerpiece of the event, where creatively decorated Christmas trees are auctioned off, was held virtually.

Steinmetz said it was, all things considered, a success, meeting its funding goal and proceeding without any major technical problems.

"It went great, the whole virtual event went really well," she said.

She said the fact that the event was held online may have increased the its exposure, since she saw many first-timers attend.

The event raised $50,000 which is much less than the event would normally see, but the club anticipated that the community, having suffered from the pandemic wouldn't have as much they were able to give and they set this year's funding goal accordingly.

Steinmetz also said this year she was blown away by the creativity of every single tree that was submitted finding it impossible to choose a favorite.

She said the tree adorned with toilet paper, in reference to the Great Shortage of 2020, was particularly memorable.

The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce is another organization that had to hold events virtually this year, its annual tree lighting ceremony having taken place Dec. 5.

Normally, the Chamber hosts the lighting in the town square, including Santa and Mrs. Clause, gift baskets for adults and children, and chamber gift certificate drawings.

This year, the Chamber held the drawings and the tree lighting via Facebook Live so as to adhere to social distancing guidelines set forth by the Hill County Health Department.

The Chamber also held a walk-by cookies with Santa and Mrs. Clause at the Holiday Village Mall Havre and offered Christmas cash through local Havre banks.

Havre Public Schools held concerts and plays while adhering to social distancing guidelines by making many of their events partially virtual as well.

Havre High School put on its production of "E.L.F." with a limited audience present and live streaming offered during the evening plays.

It did the same with its annual Christmas choir and band concerts serving a limited audience while live streaming the events.

Havre Middle School and the Havre Elementary Schools recorded Christmas concerts to hand out for family members to enjoy.

Meanwhile, Montana Actors' Theater hosted their 24-hour play production with the theme of 24-hours of COVID Christmas in Greece.

The production and events were live streamed throughout the day and the attending audience was able to see the process of the developing plays.

The MAT also hosted caroling through town and games with the live audience.

Emotional cancelations

While many events have seen changes, some have needed to be canceled entirely.

Among the more emotionally poignant absences this year was the Havre Community Thanksgiving Dinner which was canceled for the first time in its nearly 40 year history.

Dinner Chair Debi Rhines said its cancellation was necessary, but also very sad for her and everyone involved in organizing it.

"We've done it in snow, we've done it in freezing rain, we've had the dinner when it was 60 degrees outside. ... It's always been on," she said. "But this year, with the surge of positive case in the community and the unknown asymptomatic people, the burden of getting people sick is just too great."

The dinner, which was begun and paid for by an anonymous donor in 1981 and averages 150 volunteers and hundreds of diners a year, is free of charge and was intended to bring people in the community together regardless of means or circumstances.

Rhines said it's a beautiful and inclusive event that she looks forward to every year no matter the challenges that year brings.

In a letter sent to the Havre Daily News last month announcing the cancelation, Rhines and the anonymous donor said they hope they will be able to hold the event next year and that everyone who wants to come can.

"We hope and pray you will be at our table next year to share fellowship and the same full-course traditional holiday meal that has attracted many people from all walks of life for decades," it said. "... God willing, we will all be available next year to carry out the mission of the Community Thanksgiving Dinner as we collectively love giving back to our community."

Rhines said a sentiment she's often seen on social media resonates with her when thinking about this cancelation: "We're all separated so that when we come back no one is missing."

Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods in Havre, which is heavily involved in the event, tried to fill some of the gap left by the dinner by offering individualized Thanksgiving dinners to customers for $10 each.

For the last few years Gary & Leo's has sold full turkey dinners fit for a family of six to eight people including a fully cooked 10 to 12 lb. turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and an apple or pumpkin pie for $100.

These individual meals included everything the full meal does, albeit in much smaller servings, except for the pie.

Store Manager Tracy Job said he was sad to see the community dinner canceled but agreed that it was a necessity and sympathized with others that would miss it.

"It's heartbreaking," he said, "but, at the same time, I completely understand. As a community we have to be careful, be prudent and stay healthy."

He said the event was really important to people in the community and these individualized dinners would be there to fill as much of that gap as possible.

"I feel there might be a need in the community," Job said. "There are a lot of folks who aren't going to go and spend time with family because of the COVID situation."

Apparently Job was right, as the individualized meals sold very quickly, Gary & Leo's having run out by 11 a.m. Thanksgiving day.

He said it's likely that the individualized meals would be sold again next year considering how well they did, but he still hopes the community dinner ends up happening.

He said the family-sized dinners sold extremely well this year to, with many people trying to donate them to families in need.

Job said the store didn't really have a system for that kind of thing, but they were able to get some help honoring those requests through the Havre Senior Center, through which they were able to deliver 30 meals to people in the community who were in need.

He said customers sponsored all of those meals.

Regardless of what Gary & Leo's does next year, Job said, he hopes the community dinner will be back soon.

"I certainly hope the community dinner is a go next year," he said. "It's a great event. We participate in it every year because, frankly, we know that there is a need in our community for it."

Hill County and the surrounding areas saw many other events stopped for this year, including the Havre-Hill County Library Hay Ride canceled with Library Director Rachel Rawn saying it wasn't doable from a safety perspective.

Harlem canceled its annual its annual town-wide Christmas Stroll along with all related events and fundraisers.

Meanwhile, Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation canceled every major holiday event this year with the Chippewa Cree Tribe saying over their official Facebook page that pandemic-related restrictions and general anxiety over the virus were the primary drivers of the decision.

Despite all of these cancelations many towns continued with other traditions. The town of Kremlin in particular came together to help families in need with food baskets during the holidays even when they were overshadowed by the pandemic.

The Kremlin Homemakers found families in need and organized donation drives to put together food baskets for those families either for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The baskets often include enough food for an entire day and also include other household essentials to help the family.

Kremlin Homemaker Member Judy Gomke said neighbors also help each other with snow removal and other things just to make the holidays a bit easier.

"I think that's really just the way it's done in all small towns," Gomke said.

Charity and fundraising work goes on

Havre saw its own food baskets given out this year with the area's Salvation Army branch working with the Havre Community Food Bank on its annual project of handing out holiday dinners to low-income and needy families.

Salvation Army Havre's Social Services Director Trina Crawford said this year's food basket program was different due to COVID-19, the organization having extended the sign-up period consistently while asking people to sign up virtually instead of in person.

She said this method was more effective because it meant people didn't have to come into the office, which is only large enough to serve two people at a time and maintain adequate social distance.

While COVID-19 seems to have negatively affected some aspect of the Salvation Army's various donation drives, this year's food basket program has been able to provide for families during Thanksgiving and Christmas where they would normally only be able to do one or the other.

Havre Community Food Bank Director Alma Garcia said funding from the CARES Act and the Hometown Hunger Fundraiser run in association with Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods made this possible, along with adding new food items to the boxes during this time of increased need.

And despite the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, this year's Thanksgiving baskets were a success, seeing massively increased demand.

Garcia said they were able to give out 33 food baskets that people signed up for through the Salvation Army and 96 directly through District 4 Human Resources Development Council. This is far more than what they would provide in a normal year, which usually see 35 families total.

She said the pandemic necessitated that her organization handle the food baskets differently when distributing them by putting baskets on a table for people to pick up, thereby limiting person to person contact as much as possible.

Operational complications related to COVID-19 combined with increased demand made a lot more work for HRDC this year, but Garcia said it was a gratifying experience.

She said HRDC also reached their goal of $10,000 for the annual Town Pump Foundation "Be A Friend In Deed, Help Those In Need' Fundraiser this year, which Town Pump will match.

"That's very awesome and will help keep the lights on, pay the bills and all that for the food bank," she said. "We're very happy and excited that we reached our goal."

The Havre Eagles Club will also be hosting the Community Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day, Firday.

It will be changed to meet social distancing guidelines, adding a line to receive food and no in-house dining. Deliveries will still be made to Havre patrons as in previous years and masks will be required for everyone.

The club also held its annual toy drive and donation drive. Through the drive and donations they were able to reach more children than they have in previous years, just finishing deliveries Tuesday.

See related story in this edition.

Not all fundraising efforts this year were affected positively by the pandemic, although some help seems to keep coming through.

Crawford said The Salvation Army's Angel Tree and Adopt a Family programs have both seen less engagement this year, particularly the latter.

She said Havre is a generous community, so she suspects the lack of donations is likely due to the pandemic which has put many people in difficult financial situations.

However, she said, the families that have yet to be adopted will get Angel Tree gifts regardless of whether they end up being sponsored.

"We make sure that at least the kids are taken care of," Crawford said.

Despite the fundraising woes, the Salvation Army did find help with the Angel Tree program in the form of the Havre Police Department which was not able to hold its annual Shop with a Cop event this year.

Instead, the department took names of families from the Angel Tree and bought gifts for them, ending up taking numerous extra families. They reached 64 families this year.

Salvation Army's main fundraiser for the year, the Red Kettle event is also underway and will determine how much the organization can do in the coming year.

"All the money raised in the Red Kettle event is what we will turn around to help people in the next year," said Crawford. "Whatever we raise is what has to last us until the next year."

She said it's especially important to raise as much money as possible by today, because she sees a lot of people who are in need during the pandemic and potentially more after it ends.

"When it (COVID-19) lifts and they take away all those government grants, we're going to get hit hard," she said.

Crawford said donations to the kettle so far has been generous, but she suspects overall donations might take a hit this year as well due to the pandemic.

"Some of the people that would donate to Salvation Army are themselves having problems," she said.

Despite the challenges of this year, one annual fundraiser in particular saw record-breaking success; the Havre/Hill County Preservation Commission's 10th annual Christmas Ornament sale.

Each year the commission selects a historic building in the area to model a Christmas tree ornament after, this year selecting St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church.

The proceeds from this sale go towards the Preservation Fund established by the commission which is used to support projects to preserve the history of the Havre and Hill County area.

The Rev. Daniel Wathen, who has been at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church since November 2011 and to whom the ornament was presented in September, said when he was told by the commission that the church had been selected, he didn't really have an expectation, but he was very impressed with how the ornament turned out.

"I didn't know what to expect really and I was really pleased with it, and I think it's gonna sell," he said at the time.

Wathen was spot on, as the ornament went on to become the commission's most popular ever, with the first batch of 100 selling out in less than a week and more than 200 selling by the beginning of December.

Wathen said he's especially happy that the church has been selected in 2020 of all years.

"In a year where COVID-19 has caused such a loss of hope, it was a great honor to be selected for the 2020 ornament," he said. "Hopefully, it will remind people that there is still great and faith present throughout our community."

New Year's Eve still awaits. No doubt it will be affected by the pandemic as well, but despite the woes that COVID-19 has brought to Hill County, the holiday spirit appears to remain strong.