Community briefs
Homeless Person’s Memorial Day service on Dec. 21
The Collaborative Housing Solutions of Northwest Montana is hosting a memorial service from 4 to 6 p.m on Wednesday, Dec. 21 in Depot Park, Kalispell. Warm clothing items and winter gear will be distributed.
A memorial will be held at sunset, 4:46 p.m., to honor all the friends and neighbors who perished in 2022, calling for community action to end homelessness, all community members are invited to attend.
It was the death of a homeless individual that spurred the Flathead Warming Center co-founders to gather community support to build a local, low-barrier shelter. The FWC has been filled every single night since opening for the 2022-2023 season in mid-October. Due to limited capacity at the FWC, 149 times individuals have been forced to sleep in their cars or brave the freezing temperatures and seek shelter elsewhere, often outside in the elements. The FWC is seeing a significant increase in the number of elderly guests and young families who desperately need shelter this season. In the past 64 nights, 208 individuals have stayed warm and safe in the FWC, many of whom are struggling with severe and disabling illness. Last winter season, of the guests served, 59 were over age 55, 47 were under 25, and 11 were minors.
Surviving a winter outside in Montana is a brutal reality for too many in the community and basic human needs often go unmet, according to the shelter. The FWC provides access to meals, showers, laundry, haircuts and medical care.
The Ray of Hope and Samaritan House in Kalispell also provide shelter and services.
Soroptimists seek nonprofit applicants
The grants committee of Soroptimist International of Whitefish is seeking applications from Flathead County nonprofit organizations who provide programs for women and girls.
Nonprofits must show financial need for programs which meet the mission of SIW which addres, women and girls health and safety services, and education to further women and girls’ economic empowerment.
Soroptimist International of Whitefish supported 12 deserving nonprofits during the fiscal year 2021 through 2022.
Interested nonprofits can download the application at any time, beginning Jan. 1, 2023. Applications will be accepted until the Jan. 31, 2023 deadline. The application can be found at www.soroptimistwhitefish.org
All funding is provided by income from the Whitefish Thrift Haus which is located at
303 E. First St., Whitefish. Whitefish Thrift Haus is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m.
CNA class registration opens at FVCC
Flathead Valley Community College Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) class registration is open now.
The next session of CNA class begins Jan. 17 with two different sessions available. Through approximately four months in the classroom (or a blended option of in-person and online), students are prepared to take the State of Montana certifying test and enter the workforce.
Through hands-on clinical training, the intensive course teaches the skills and applications required to address the needs of chronically-ill patients in long-term care facilities. Students also gain understanding of basic medical terminology, basic human anatomy and physiology and the aging process.
Upon successful completion of the course and test, CNAs can move directly into a patient care position and are also well-poised to continue their education toward becoming a registered nurse.
Registration for the CNA class should be completed by Dec. 15 and includes a required background check and immunizations, so anyone interested should begin the process as soon as possible. For more information and to begin the registration process visit fvcc.edu/cna.
Hanukkah menorah lights up Whitefish
Chabad of the Flathead Valley will light a 9-foot public Hanukkah menorah the first night of the eight-day Festival of Lights at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, at Depot Park in Whitefish.
The ceremony will be followed by a community-wide celebration. Complimentary Hanukkah menorahs and candles will be distributed as well for participants to light at home. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, begins this year on the evening of Dec. 18 and concludes the evening of Dec. 26.
There will be three public menorah displays in the valley throughout chanukah: at the corner of U.S. 93 and Montana 40, in front of Corwin Honda, at the corner of Wyoming and U.S. 93 (Sunset Boulevard) in Kalispell.
“Everyone is especially excited about Hanukkah this year,” said Shneur Wolf, Rabbi of Chabad of the Flathead Valley. “People are preparing to celebrate with family and friends, to fill their homes with the light of Hanukkah, and there’s a palpable joy. The public Hanukkah celebration is about sharing this light and joy with the broader community and the entire Flathead Valley.”
Hanukkah emphasizes that each and every individual has the unique power to illuminate the entire world. It was to encourage this profound idea that the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, launched the Hanukkah awareness campaign in 1973, which Whitefish’s public Hanukkah activities are a part of.
The menorah faces the street, the Rebbe notes, and so bypassers immediately feel “the effect of the light, which illuminates the outside and the environment.” In the half-century since, the Rebbe’s campaign has brought Hanukkah into the mainstream and altered awareness and practice of the festival, returning what some mistakenly dismissed as a minor holiday to its roots as a public proclamation of the triumph of freedom over oppression and a mainstay of Jewish cultural and religious life.
Chabad of the Flathead Valley offers Jewish education, outreach and social service programming for families and individuals of all ages, backgrounds and affiliations. For more information visit Jewishflathead.com or call 406-885-2541.