Community foundation funds beading classes at Rocky Boy

People will get the chance next year to take part in free beading lessons at Our Savior Lutheran Church on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation thanks to a grant from the Hill County Community Foundation, and a foundation-funded project is filling up with events in an online community events calendar.

Pastor Linda Webster of Our Savior said Friday that several people from the reservation will teach the lessons. The cost of hiring instructors and buying supplies will be paid with a $500 grant from the Hill County Community Foundation and money set aside for the congregation's women's craft and sewing group.

The foundation awarded four $500 grants this year, also funding an online community events calendar set up by KNMC radio at Montana State University-Northern and the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, a grant to the Chamber to help pay for installing more electrical outlets at Havre's Town Square, and Van Orsdel United Methodist Church to help fund its Brother Van SOS pantry.

The beading lessons will be free and open to the public, Webster said.

The lessons, she said, will likely start sometime in January but a specific start date and how long lessons will be offered has not yet been decided.

"We actually don't have a time-frame length for how these classes will be," Webster said. "We will just do it until we run out of money."

The classes, she said, will be a venue for people to work on existing projects, learn beading techniques and share ideas.

Webster said she wrote the proposal for the grant from the Community Foundation, which includes a category for arts and culture.

Beadwork, she said, has great culture significance across American Indian tribes. Webster added that beading is often time consuming and involves creating detailed and elaborate patterns.

Beading, Webster said, also can be a way for people to supplement their income.

Historically, pastors within her nearly 100-year-old congregation and their wives, used to buy beadwork from American Indians and then send it to the eastern states. she said.

"We actually have had pieces of beading come back to us that were purchased during those times," Webster said.

People interested in teaching or taking part in the class can contact the church office for more information at 395-4307. Webster said people are encouraged to leave their name and number.

The community events calendar that went live this month is filling up with local information, with activities listed through the end of February.

The calendar, at http://www.havreareaevents.com, has buttons to search for events and to enter events into different categories, with the option to look at all events or events specific to music, theater and art, sports, youth events, food, education, civic events and special events.

Faye James of the foundation board said it received 10 applications for grants, and the board selected the four as meeting its goals in supporting arts and crafts, basic human needs and community beautification.

The foundation, founded in 1995, has given thousands of dollars to 40 projects in the county, with all dollars donated to the foundation kept local.

The donor base for the Hill County Community Foundation continues to grow, James said.

"We are grateful to the generosity of the community, county residents," she said. " ... We strongly believe that building a strong base will make a healthy community and county because we care about our neighbors and the potential to benefit all."

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Tim Leeds contributed to this story.