GREAT FALLS — A new addition at the Alliance for Youth helps tell the story of the organization — and more importantly, the countless lives it has changed over the course of 40 years.
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The beautifully designed mural stands as a tribute to four decades of service in Great Falls.
"This organization really is — it's grassroots and it's locally grown," Kristi Pontet-Stroop said.
The Alliance for Youth has come a long way since being founded in 1986.
"We started with the town meeting," Barb Holden said.
"Those locals wanted to address underage drinking and really just let kids and families know that they saw them. They valued them, and they wanted them to live healthy and productive lives," Pontet-Stroop said.
Holden was the organization's first executive director. Her involvement was the result of her work with teen pregnancy.
She never dreamed Alliance for Youth would be going strong 40 years later.
"We were just thinking, what do we do now for the kids? What can we do with the little amount of money we have to start?" Holden said.
Pontet-Stroop is the current executive director who has worked her way through the organization for over 20 years. She says no two days are alike, and while they're always challenging, they're also rewarding.
"We do hard things and with the people that we are serving, they have to walk through some really hard things too. And so what is the best thing that could happen?" Pontet-Stroop said.
Through the years, Alliance for Youth has advocated for community initiatives like building the juvenile detention center.
"We got that on the ballot and promoted that because they didn't want the kids in the jail," Holden said.
Alliance for Youth scored big in the community with its Spring Fling Hoop thing, held drug and alcohol-free video dance parties, and participated in Red Ribbon Week.
"It was a community that stood up for the kids. And that's what we see now," Holden said.
Their community commitment continues with classes for parents, substance abuse prevention programs, the Sober Life, the addition of the Youth Resource Center, and the implementation of the Back-to-School Blast, all made possible by staff and volunteers who love to serve.
"We work into the late evenings, we work on the weekends, we make ourselves available to youth and families," Pontet-Stroop said.
As a way to thank the community for 40 years of support, Alliance for Youth is hosting a locally grown celebration on Thursday, October 22nd.
"Chef Michael Hallahan is going to be our locally grown chef. He always contributes a hot meal twice a month to our Youth Resource center. We will have locally grown talent providing music in the Lucky Valentines," Pontet-Stroop said.
"I'm just — I'm proud of where they are, what they've accomplished. And I'm proud of our community that we were able to do this," Holden said.
