A Great Falls woman recently fulfilled a dream more than two decades in the making when she was selected as one of only 150 volunteers nationwide to help decorate the White House for the holidays.
Mandy Broderick was chosen from thousands of applicants to spend three days over Thanksgiving weekend transforming the nation's most famous residence into a winter wonderland. As the only volunteer selected from Montana, she proudly represented the Treasure State while working alongside the White House staff.
"Going to the White House for me, personally was, just a dream… It makes you so proud to be an American," Broderick said.
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Broderick first learned about the volunteer opportunity in 2002 during the Bush administration when HGTV featured the White House holiday decorating process. She has been dreaming of participating ever since.
"I first learned about it in 2002 when Bush was president, and they did the HGTV show… I've always wanted to go since then," Broderick said.
When the White House opened applications in August, the crafting hobbyist decided to submit a heartfelt application despite not having professional experience in event planning or floral design.
"I tried to explain what I've done because I'm not a professional florist. I'm not a professional event planner. My job is totally opposite of that. And I just, but I am very crafty, creative in my spare time," Broderick said.
Broderick was assigned to decorate the East Room, which celebrates America's 250th anniversary next year. The room featured four towering trees that required teams of eight to nine volunteers each to complete.
"We had four trees in the East room, and they're really tall. Like, the ceilings are very high in the White House. And so our trees had to be 15 feet tall. I don't know… but they're tall. And so, we had about 8 to 9 people assigned to each tree, putting lights on. And it took us all day," Broderick said.
Despite the exhausting work, Broderick found the experience overwhelming in the best possible way. She was struck by the historical significance of walking the same halls as presidents and first ladies throughout American history.
"I walked where George Washington and Martha Washington walked, Abraham Lincoln, even the current President and First Lady. I've walked the same floors. I ate in the State dining room. I decorated the East room, where you see them hosting parties," Broderick said.
As Montana's sole representative among the volunteers, Broderick became an unofficial ambassador for her home state. Fellow volunteers were curious about life in the Big Sky Country.
"Everybody asked me about Montana. They're like, what's Montana like? And I said, well, it's, if you want to be outdoors, if you want to camp, if you want to do outdoor activities, ATVing, hiking, fishing, you know, whatever, rafting, things like that. Skiing in the winter. Snowmobiling. If you want to do stuff like that, I said, Montana is the place to be. It's a beautiful state," Broderick said.
Now back home in Great Falls, Broderick is already planning to apply again for next year's volunteer opportunity.
"I'm walking on clouds. I'm still very thankful that I got to do it. I'm very happy that I got to do it. It was a lot of work. I'm going to keep applying. Hopefully, I'll get selected again," Broderick said.
This broadcast news story has been lightly edited for online publication with the assistance of AI for clarity, syntax, and grammar.
