$35 gifts mean many are fed for Easter

A woman walked into the Salvation Army's Havre Service Center recently asking if she could get an Easter Basket of food for her family.

She was a single mother who had a job earning higher than minimum wage, but with three children to care for, she could barely make it on the money she had. Easter dinner would be pretty meager without some help.

She showed Trina Crawford, executive director of the Havre Service Center, her monthly budget. At the end of the month, she had $10 left over for emergencies.

"The only 'extravagance' she had was basic cable," Crawford said. "And with three children, that's pretty necessary."

This year, she will be enjoying a fine Easter dinner of meat, fresh potatoes, canned fruit, cake and other things that make Easter dinner special.

The meal is compliments of the Havre Food Bank, the Salvation Army, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods and generous people who donated $35 each.

When people donated $35 - roughly the price of one of the baskets - Gary & Leo's matched each donation.

Tuesday morning, the store loaded the food and it was off the the food bank and the Salvation Army.

People who have been deemed eligible will pick up the baskets today.

The mother of three is a lot like others who come in for food, said Crawford and Lorna Bjerga, who runs the food bank.

Most who come in for help scrape by most of the month, but need some help to get by, Crawford and Bjerga said. But they come by the food bank when they need help with food.

When it comes to holidays like Christmas or Easter, they look to the Salvation Army or the food bank for assistance.

"Some are embarrassed to ask for help most the year," Bjerga said, but at Christmas or Easter, they want their children to have something special.

"It's mostly for the kids," she said.

"Many of them are making minimum wage," Crawford said of the parents. "By the time you pay for bills, there isn't much left.".

Tracy Job, manager of Gary & Leo's, said for years they have worked with the Salvation Army and the food bank in preparing Easter baskets, and decided this year to match the community donations because they have seen how valuable the program is to people.

"This year, $4,000 in food will be given out, and 125 families will be fed," he said. "This is a great thing."