HAVRE — The Boys and Girls Club of the Hi-Line is preparing for its annual Festival of Trees fundraiser this Saturday, transforming their facility into a festive wonderland of decorated trees donated by local businesses.
The event will feature an evening of food, games, and a live auction - and the highlight will be the beautifully decorated trees from community businesses. All proceeds support the club's operations.
"We have about 250 people come to the event, and there's food, there's fun. We play games, we have the live auction with the beautiful trees that all of our businesses around the community have donated. And all the proceeds go to support the operation of the Boys and Girls Club," Tim Brurud said.
Brurud, executive director of the Help Committee Boys and Girls Club of the Hi-Line, highlighted some standout tree donations, including an Angel Care tree and a unique Cats-Griz combination tree donated by Northern Montana Hospital.
"We have some amazing trees. I mean, you can see behind me the Angel Care tree. We have a Cats-Griz tree combo that was donated by the Northern Montana Hospital. So we're hoping that brings a lot of money. Hopefully whoever loses the big game will kind of make up for it by paying big for their tree," Brurud said.
The fundraiser supports crucial youth programming in Hill County. Development Director Jenn Tomac emphasized the organization's vital role in the community.
"We are the only youth development kind of program here in Hill County. So we provide after school care for around 250 children each day. We serve almost 59,000 meals and snacks each year. So the community really relies on this program," Tomac said.
The strong community support ensures the annual fundraiser continues to thrive year after year.
"We anticipate festival trees each year, and we never have a worry that we're not going to have items come into the building because our community has been so generous to the club. They really believe in the vision of what we are doing and the impact we're having here. So we know we have a reliable source that we can rely on each year," Tomac said.
