Pennsylvania man donates $15,000 to Hill County Community Foundation

The kindness of the people of Havre made such an impact on a Pennsylvania man, Robert “Bob” Tassinari, he is the largest donor to the Hill County Community Foundation despite never living in the region.

Foundation board chair Pam Veis said Tassinari reached out to her after she sent an article to the Havre Daily News about the transfer of wealth in Montana.

“He contacted me by phone about five years ago. I’m not certain, but I think he read an article I submitted to the Daily about the transfer of wealth in Montana. Shortly after that time, I received a call from him and he told me ‘a check will be in the mail soon,’” Veis said in an email to the Havre Daily News.

“Since that time, I believe the grand total he’s donated to our foundation is $15,000. Our largest donor by far. I’ve had several phone conversations with him and he’s told me that his dream was to retire and live in Havre, but that health problems have prevented him from doing so,” Veis added.

Tassinari, originally from a suburb of Boston, said he first came to Havre while on a business trip to Seattle. He spent 20 years in the Navy before spending 20 years with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, part of the Justice Department, which required him to visit a Seattle area facility.

“I remember the train was late, as always, about four hours. It was about 5:30, in the afternoon, when it stopped at Havre and I stepped off the train to smoke. And I looked around from the platform, looking at 5:30 in the evening, and I thought, `I wonder what life is, like, out here for these people going home from work or wherever,’” Tassinari said.

Tassinari picked up a copy of the newspaper then decided if he had to come out to the area again the next year, which he did, he would stop in Havre for a couple of days.

“Somebody suggested after the first bar I stopped at, I’d probably enjoy myself more at the Shanty Bar and they were right. I just met a number of people I thought were nice, interesting people and I’ve never looked back after that,” Tassinari said

He initially made the trip annually before doing so twice a year until he was no longer able to about four years ago due to those health issues.

“It’s a progressive neurological disease, I’m becoming more and more paralyzed, home healthcare, things like that,” Tassinari said.

Tassinari, now retired, said his condition won’t improve to a point he can move to Havre. He added that he remains subscribed to the Havre Daily News.

Veis wrote in the June 16 email he has been a subscriber for 15 years. Tassinari said he is also subscribed to the Blaine County Journal News-Opinion.

“There was something in the Havre Daily News about the Hill County Community Foundation, making a donation to whatever, I don’t remember at the time. I thought that’s a good organization to make a contribution to whatever it was in the paper I had read about, and so that’s why I sent them the first check,” Tassinari said.

Tassinari said he has donated, “just a few thousand.”

Knowing he won’t be able to relocate to Havre and visit with community members, Tassinari said, “I found that almost everyone, there were certain exceptions, but almost everybody I met was pleasant. Being called pleasant I consider quite a compliment, myself.”

The foundation website says, “Through the power of permanently endowed funds, the Hill County Community Foundation is able to award the annual interest of the endowment fund to local projects as grants. This annual grant cycle allows HCCF to fund local projects that might otherwise go unfunded.”

The Hill County Community Foundation’s 2020 grantees included CASA of Hill County, the Associated Students of Montana State University-Northern, the Hill County 4-H Foundation, the Havre Eagles Manor, Roses Helping Hands in partnership with Bear Paw Development Corp. and Havre Trails Inc.

Each organization received a $500 grant, resulting in a total of $3,000. The foundation website said each grantee was awarded for their respective projects in one of three HCCF focus areas, basic human needs, arts and culture, and community beautification.

For more on how each organization will use the grant funds, people can visit https://hillcountycommunityfoundation.org/grant-cycle .