$12,000 raised so far for families with sick children

Havre High School Key Club members and members of the Kallenberger and Hendrickson families gathered at the high school Friday for a formal check-passing ceremony.

Key Clubbers were there to present checks for nearly $6,000 to each of the families. The money was raised in a series of fundraisers coordinated by the club.

But first, the club members and family members gathered to talk.

“We had a pretty good cry,” said John Ita, a history teacher and Key Club adviser.

The Key Club organized a series of fundraisers in which area churches and social organizations primarily gathered for feeds to raise funds for the families.

The Kallenbergers’ two children suffer from a disease that doctors believe may be a form of muscular dystrophy. Dylan Hendrickson, a Havre Middle School student, is undergoing treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Touched by the families’ problems, Key Club members contacted more than a dozen churches to sponsor spaghetti feeds the weekend of Dec. 14. The Eagle Riders sponsored a chili cook-off and feed earlier that week.

“I was just amazed at how the community gathered together,” Ita said

Nearly a dozen churches dropped what they were doing and sponsored the spaghetti feeds, he said. Eagle Riders contributed their time and effort.

While the checks handed out Friday were about $6,000 each, Ita said he knows more is coming. Some of the churches have not turned over their proceeds yet, he said.

Jessa Pyette, Key Club president, said she was overwhelmed by the community response.

She said she didn’t set a goal for how much would be raised by the effort.

“I just put it in God’s hands,” she said.