Elks Lodge seeking donors and recipients for two holiday programs

Havre Elks Lodge No. 1201 is accepting donations and looking for recipients for two of their annual charitable events, the Blanket Drive and Giveaway and the Veterans Giving Tree.

The organization is accepting donations of blankets, along with any bedding, both new and used, for its annual Blanket Drive and Giveaway, which has distribution dates before Thanksgiving and prior to Christmas.

Elks Lodge Secretary Brandy Kurtz said they are looking for bedding of all kinds from blankets to sheets, comforters, afghans and more. This is the fourth year for the blanket drive, she added, and in years past they have anywhere from 20 to 50 people participating in each distribution.

The first blanket and bedding distribution is set for Wednesday, Nov. 17, at the Elks Club lodge room and the second will be Dec. 15.

People who want to donate bedding can drop it off at Western Trailer Sales, 1865 Highway 2 East, or contact Brandy Kurtz at 406-390-0091 to make arrangements. And anyone who wants to sign up to receive bedding, or people who want to sign up family, friends or someone in need, can contact Kurtz, as well.

Kurtz said the lodge’s Veterans Giving Tree is a way for Havre Elks Lodge to give back during the holiday season to those who served the country.

Each year, she said, they ask individuals, businesses and organizations to sign up to purchase a gift specifically needed by area veterans. This year, she added, they already have enough donors, but they are looking for veterans with needs they can fulfill.

“We need people to sign up for this more than we need people to donate,” Kurtz said. “I have lots of donors and lots of people who want to help veterans out, but I don’t have a lot of veterans signed up.”

She only has about 10 veterans signed up right now, she said, and last year they helped more than 20, but could help as many veterans as get signed up.

“Veterans are too proud to say they need help. Veterans are too proud to ask for anything,” Kurtz said, and that is why they are asking family, friends and neighbors, anyone who knows of a veteran with a need for an item, or just a present at Christmas.

Last year someone from Fort Belknap Indian Reservation signed up two of her uncles and a grandpa. One veteran needed work boots, another a nice, warm jacket and the third needed sweatpants, socks and underwear. All of these items were basic things, Kurtz said, but these gifts can mean the world to the recipients.

“She picked up all the presents — and they’re all wrapped — took them, and gave ’em to them at Christmas, and they all had something,” Kurtz said.

The wrapped presents will be sent home or delivered Dec. 18 so the recipients will have the gifts by Christmas.

People can sign up a veteran for a Giving Tree present, or sign up to be a donor, by contacting Kurtz at 406-390-0091.