Alan Sorensen Havre Daily News asorensen@havredailynews.com
This has been a week of change at the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line. While the annual HELP Camp is going on at Montana State University-Northern, the First Avenue club has been closed, some walls have been getting a fresh coat of paint and one of HELP’s grant administrators has been tying up loose ends before closing shop and leaving town. Staff also have been vacating four rooms in preparation for the four classrooms of students the Havre Elementary School District is moving in this fall. “We’re cleaning out rooms that we were using for centers for programming for two first-grade classes and two kindergarten classes for the school district,” HELP grant administrator Laura Holmlund said Wednesday. The four rooms on the south end of the building had housed the library, arts and crafts center, life-skills program and GAP. The life-skills center, she said, was home to cooking and sewing classes and contained microwave and toaster ovens and other appliances. GAP, an acronym for Great Awesome Programming, included classes on karate, yoga, karaoke and other subjects. “So we’re consolidating,” Holmlund said about utilizing the club and HELP programs’ remaining space in the building that was previously Devlin Elementary School. “We had a rummage sale last week to get rid of excess and (going through) a lot of changes.” The biggest change for Holmlund, though, is the family’s move to Laurel. “I’m hoping to be a stay-at-home mom, which I’ve been off and on through my life,” Holmlund said. “My kids are so busy with sports and music that there’s not a lot of staying at home in that picture, more like mom’s taxi.” Working hasn’t been a hardship, though, she said, as she discussed her different jobs at the Boys & Girls Club. “I’ve been here (at HELP) 4 1/2 years,” she said. “I am the prevention programs coordinator tobacco and illicit drugs.” A year ago, she became intimately involved with the Drug-Free Community Coalition. “When the town started having more meth forums, we as a staff went to them,” Holmlund said. “I was fascinated. I went to Krista (Solomon, executive director of HELP and the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi- Line) and said, you know, I’m really passionate about this subject.’ “So we gradually shifted some of my responsibilities to work on the coalition more.” Now that she’s leaving today is her last day most of her jobs are being shifted to others in the building. “When anyone leaves, we always look within,” Solomon said. “I’ll first look within and then we’ll advertise.” Holmlund’s duties during her tenure at HELP included, at one time or another, writing the weekly Parents in Partnership article, writing and designing the monthly newsletter, and working on grants and contracts. Her background was well-suited to Communication art/public relations and worked as a reporter and in design for the Billings Gazette before her husband landed the job as district clerk for Rocky Boy Schools in 2002. Holmlund has served as more than a paper pusher for HELP. She was deeply involved in establishing the parent support group and teaches a street law class on shoplifting to young offenders. “They get referred to us from juvenile probation, sometimes it’s our own kids,” she said, meaning members of the club. “When they get arrested , our class is one of their consequences.” The parent support group got going early this year as a program of the Drug-Free Community Coalition. She said District Court Judge Dave Rice and Hill County Attorney Cyndi Peterson, who are working to establish a drug court in Havre, touch base often with those involved in the support group. “We had a community forum in February on youth and drug use,” Holmlund said. “It was a kickoff for a parent support group. We have identified two local people to be cofacilitators. “That’s the piece of work I’m leaving undone,” she added. “I don’t want that to fall to the wayside and I’m sure it won’t because our executive director, Krista Solomon, is supportive, and our co-facilitators, Gail Wheatley and Cindy Turner, are really committed to make it happen. “And we have a lot of community support to get that off the ground.” She said the parent support group is for parents with children at home, whether youths or adults, who are drug users. Parents can share their experiences, what has worked and what hasn’t, information about lawyers and funding for treatment. “Any number of resources that aren’t obvious in the market places.” Holmlund also has overseen the state’s tobacco compliance check program, a federally mandated program for every state. “That’s really what the bulk of my work has been for 4 1/2 years,” she said. “I’ve been in charge of the people who go and complete 5,200 site visits across the state each year to make sure merchants aren’t selling tobacco to minors.” She said the program employs seven inspectors and about 15 surveyors. Each surveyor hires two or three minors between the ages of 15 and 17, who accompany the surveyor to stores and try to purchase tobacco products. “No other agency in the state has had that contract,” Holmlund said. Holmlund said she will miss working for HELP at the club, but also is looking forward to being a stay-at-home mother. “This has been my favorite job ever, largely because of the work environment really fantastic people to work with,” she said. “They care very deeply about each of our pet projects. Each person has their heart in that issue.” She said the work is meaningful, too, and “that always makes going to work easier, when you know you’re making a difference.” Having the opportunity to watch children grow in their years at the club has been a bonus, she said. “Looking back in the digital archives, seeing the changes, sometimes you don’t realize how small or young they were,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to know so many of the kids and their families in the community.” But it’s not just other kids who made her work enjoyable, she said. “My kids are here (at the club) a lot of the hours,” she said. “I’m here when they’re here for club hours, so I know who they’re with, the adult influences in their lives. “And it’s just a real comfort to have them in the same building and touching base every day.” Holmlund’s husband, Greg, has accepted a job offer from his employer from 1994-99, Montana Silver Smiths in Columbus. She said the offer and move were not in their plans. “We’re remodeling a house, our son started middle school and our daughter started high school,” she said, “so we weren’t looking to relocate.” Solomon said Holmlund will be missed. “She certainly had a passion for the job she did,” Solomon said, “and it’s hard to find people like that.”
