Local good samaritans honored by Northern Broadcasting System

Northern Broadcasting System radio personalities spent Thursday morning in the Montana State University-Northern Diesel Technology Building broadcasting about local community members and business owners who have done outstanding work supporting communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The broadcast was part of NBS's "Tow Rope Tour," which is meant to find and draw attention to people in communities all over Montana who have gone out of their way to make a difference during this difficult time, and is sponsored by Mountain Health CO-OP.

"We're traveling to get information and stories about people who are tow rope heroes and what they've done," Northern Broadcasting System Vice President Courtney Kibblewhite said.

Kibblewhite said the idea of a Tow Rope is a metaphor for the kind of people they are looking for.

"In Montana, we don't leave folks stranded along the side of the road," Tom Schultz, host of Montana's longest-running statewide radio talk show, "Voices of Montana," part of the Northern News Network said in a press release. "That's why we carry a tow rope. There are a lot of good people in Montana humbly doing good things for their neighbors, or even strangers, and hearing those stories can be uplifting and encouraging for all."

Nominees in the Havre area include Alyvia Hammond, Amber Spring, Ben Franklin Crafts, Bob Bergren, Brandy Kurtz, Casey Peterson Solomon, Dave Shepard, Don Miller, Paul Tuss, Hunter Cramer, Janine Donoven and Wendy Gerky, Lindsay Lorang, Munya and Lori Takawira, Peggy Kimmet, Shelma Seidel and Theresa Zoren.

Many were honored for their contributions to the area's nurses and health care professionals by making masks and other equipment or providing something as simple as fresh coffee.

However, nominees were honored for everything from providing specialized mental health care for people in the community to working to prevent evictions to providing grocery deliveries.

Kibblewhite said Northern Broadcasting System has done events like this in the past but they didn't know what they were going to be able to do this year because of the pandemic, but this event so far has been a success and they are looking to cover western Montana later in the year and Malta today.

She said they spent Thursday morning interviewing nominees and letting them tell their stories if they were willing.

"It's all about connecting people together and ideas together," she said.

Tow Rope Hero nominees, and the people who nominate them, are entered into a drawing for a Bad Boy Zero-Turn lawn mower. People interested in submitting a nomination can go to https://northernbroadcasting.com for details, and for a list of nominees.