Amanda Johnson Havre Daily News ajohnson@havredailynews.com
House Speaker Bob Bergren and his family hosted a free Christmas Dinner at the Eagles Club from 11 a. m. to 2 p.m. Christmas Day. Volunteers served turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin pie and much more. People from all around also came to listen to live music by Ray Miller. “My dad and my brother are over at the restaurant (PJ’s), and we basically cook everything over there and we haul it over to the Eagles Club,” said Bergren. “It works really nice because Dad closes his restaurant one day a year so I can use his kitchen. Basically, I have two commercial kitchens that I can use, and it works out really good. IGA cooks all the turkeys for us; I buy the turkeys from them. “We’re doing good so far, we have a good crowd and the music sounds really good,” said Bergren. "We delivered 301 take-out meals this morning in about half an hour, and we've served over 400 people (as of 1:30 p.m.)" "We served about 500 people that came in for the sit down dinner." Bergren’s dad, Jerry, owns PJ’s Restaurant Lounge and Casino and his brother, Scott, is the head chef. “My brother Scott is really great in making this happen,” said Bergren. “Without him and my dad it would be really difficult to pull off.” Approximately 30 volunteers helped serve, cook and clean up before, during and after the dinner. “I’ve been up here since 5 a.m. this morning (Christmas Day),” said Bergren. “We cut the turkeys yesterday and I started getting things ready to go at 5 this morning.” The Community Christmas Dinner is a long-standing tradition in Havre. “Bob Sivertsen put this dinner on for 17 years. Bob decided he wanted to spend some time with his family during Christmas. At the time it got to Dec. 10, and no one had taken it over, and so the three of us (Bob, Jerry and Scott) decided we were in a position that we could take it over. My wife, children, aunts, uncles they all help out with the dinner. My assistant Jen Phalen volunteered to come help as well.” "We got out of there about 4 p.m. That's the earliest we've ever left. We had a lot of wonderful people that stayed after the dinner and helped with the cleanup," said Bergren. “Bob does a wonderful job with the community dinner,” said Lynn Schmidt of Havre. “My daughter and granddaughter are here from Spokane, (Wash.,) and I put them to work. It’s a good learning experience for my 9-year-old granddaughter.”
