Community embraces Veterans Home: Halloween kicks off holiday season with trick-or-treating

From gremlins and goblins to princesses and pirates, hundreds of costumed crusaders will descend on the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls on Halloween, to the delight of residents and staff.

The event is the unofficial start to the “busy season” at the Veterans Home, and Recreation Supervisor Bonnie Stutsman said it’s something residents look forward to each year.

“I’ve been here 10 years, and we’ve been doing it at least that long,” she said. “It wasn’t always so big, but it has always been a lot of fun. It gets crazy with kids and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and everyone getting involved. There’s a steady flow of kids walking through the halls, and our residents get a kick out of seeing the kids all dressed up.”

Stutsman estimates the event draws between 300 and 400 trick-or-treaters plus their parents and family members, and said the event grows a little each year. It runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Halloween and is geared to encourage community involvement with the facility and its residents.

“It’s free to the community and it helps get people involved with the residents,” she said. “It’s good for both ends, actually. They get involved with us and our residents get involved with them. We go through a whole lot of candy.”

That kind of community involvement is something Stutsman said is important and has played a part in the home’s history from the very beginning.

Opened in 1896 for veterans of the Civil War and American Indian Wars, the facility was created by the Fourth Legislative Assembly of Montana and began with a donation of 146.9 acres and $10,000 from the “citizens of Columbia Falls.”

Although the facility has been up and running for the last 117 years, the citizens of the Flathead Valley are still very much involved with the residents, according to Joren Underdahl, facility administrator.

“There’s 300 to 400 people registered as volunteers, and that’s more than any other nursing home I’ve ever seen. A lot of it is that the community at large wants to give back to veterans and assist us.”

That community support helped save the facility in 2011 from possible privatization or closure when the state Legislature considered the move to save money. Thanks to public outcry, funding was restored and the Veterans Home continues to operate.

“We do have a lot of volunteers that come in and help out with all sorts of things,” Stutsman said. “We have groups that come in and sing or dance, do church services, pet therapy (which is awesome), read to the residents, or go on trips with us. There’s always something going on here and we have quite a few volunteer hours put into our programs. We’re very, very fortunate for that. The community involvement is outstanding and pretty amazing.”

During a regular week, Stutsman said there can be shopping trips, Sunday drives in the mountains, breakfast at the local VFW, outings to the movies or the park and local concerts. Volunteers attend most of those events.

And there are special events and holidays such as Halloween.

“Halloween is a big day for us, and it’s kind of the start of our holiday season,” Stutsman said. “After that, we’ve got Veterans Day, which is of course important to us and we’re already starting to plan for that.”

Although not everything is finalized for that event, Stutsmen said interested Veterans Home residents will attend a special program honoring veterans at Columbia Falls High School, followed by a memorial ceremony at the home for prisoners of war and missing in action.

“We’re working on some music for the evening, but we don’t have anything finalized yet,” Stutsman said. “Something a little less intense.”

After Veterans Day, Stutsman said the next big event is Thanksgiving, and will feature “quite a bit of family-oriented stuff.”

“Then it’s Christmas, and December is pretty much geared around that, so for the next several months, there’s a lot going on, outside of our regular events,” she said.

The facility is open to the public and Underdahl encourages people to stop by and find out more about what the Veterans Home has to offer.

“If you want to learn about volunteering, or just want to see it and tour it, you can,” Underdahl said.

For more information on the Montana Veterans Home, call 892-3250 or stop by 400 Veterans Drive in Columbia Falls.

Reporter Melissa Walther may be reached at 758-4474 or by email at mwalther@dailyinterlake.com.