Community helps make The Nest possible
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It’s been said many times before, but we must repeat it: those who live in the Mission Valley are an incredibly generous bunch, and it is actually overwhelming when one is the recipient of that generosity. The Fall Fest to Feather the Nest on Sunday, Oct. 18, was attended by close to 100 people who played, ate, danced and bid on auction items while enthusiastically supporting our efforts to open this home for pregnant and parenting young moms in Lake County and the Flathead Reservation.
From Glacier Bank’s sponsorship to the planning committee and their volunteers, to the McCrumbs hosting us at their wonderful party barn, to those who gave us such great silent auction items, to Alana and Aspen from the Center for Prevention and Wellness at Salish Kootenai College and the college’s Paul and Mike who provided fun games for all; to our terrific emcee, Brian from Anderson Radio Group; to Sheriff Don Bell, who rose to the challenge of tasting and judging nine incredible home-baked pies; to Gladys Friday and Friends — well, as you can tell there was more than one village supporting our efforts to provide a safe place to nurture our children.
We raised more than $6,000 at this event, and will continue to fundraise until we can open the doors to this home in St. Ignatius, as it is clear that it is vitally needed and will provide a safe haven and room to grow for young moms and their children by providing housing and trauma-informed supportive services.
Although a generous private donation allowed us to purchase and update a wonderful house in St. Ignatius, grant funding had not come through yet to hire folks to work at The Nest. We will be providing 24-hour staffing (because we know that, with kids, a lot happens at night) and work one-on-one with the gals and our community partners to help the moms achieve their educational and employment goals. Parenting classes will be offered to residents and community members, and a highlight of The Nest will be gardening. We plan to be able to provide much of our food at The Nest, while we are all getting exercise and learning the valuable skill of small-scale farming.
The Nest is an IRS-approved non-profit organization, and all contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We welcome your donations, your questions, and your interest, and may be reached at PO Box 726, St. Ignatius, 59865, or by calling 406-745-3757. For those of you on Facebook, check out www.facebook.com/TheNestMontana.
