$1.25
your homegrown newspaper November 27, 2024
Vol. 21, No. 11
Warm meals, care shared in Mission Valley communities By Kathi Beeks Valley Journal
Polson schools pg. 8
Glacier pg. 16
Hunting pg. 17
MISSION VALLEY — Three free Thanksgiving Day Community Dinners are set to be prepared and served or packaged in different areas of the Mission Valley. Each dinner event provides a unique story of how it began and why it remains important to the people served and the people serving. Polson For over 20 years, Tracy Plaisse has coordinated, cooked and served Thanksgiving dinners for the town of Polson and surrounding areas. Plaisse explains that it’s simply something that “Needs to be done.” Whether for a family of five or a thousand, executing a Thanksgiving dinner requires skills not everyone has. According to Plaisse, Thanksgiving dinner is a project. The time and expertise to pull off the traditional meal just doesn’t automatically exist in every family. Cognizant of the many single parents struggling to put together
FILE PHOTO
Volunteers assemble freshly cooked Thanksgiving meals to give away to Polson community members in 2022.
a holiday meal, Plaisse has made a point of having the local schools send home information about the availability of a free Thanksgiving dinner. She’s not sure what all the reasons are for the need, but supposes health issues and financial constraints can’t be far off the mark. The ever-increasing number of partakers
proves the need. Since Covid, the number of dinners served has risen from approximately 555 in 2019 to over 1,874 in 2023. This year, the more than 900 calls for reservations as of Thursday, Nov. 21, (six days prior to the 10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, reservation deadline), indicates the number will w w w.va l le yj our na l.net
continue to climb. Plaisse added that she thinks it’s “important to retain the one holiday where we remember the blessings we have.” Those who called in reservations to 406-4937566 by the Wednesday, Nov. 27, 10 p.m. deadline, can pick up their meals at the Elks Lodge, 512 Main Street, between
11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Ronan Off and on for the past 10 years, Brandy Chisholm has given back to the Ronan community by volunteering at the annual Ronan Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Marie Cowan of the see page 2