Merry Christmas to you all! Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian
This has truly been a December filled with grace in our little corner of the world.
Even on days when the news has been difficult – mill closures, accidents, wars – there have been stories of great generosity.
I think today of the good people at Neptune Aviation, who suffered great losses this past year in a pair of air tanker crashes. So overwhelmed were they by the community support in the wake of those disasters that they spared not a moment in giving back when word came this week that the Poverello Center needed help in paying its heating bill.
Neptune didn’t just pay this month’s bill. They gave the Pov $22,000, enough to heat the homeless shelter for an entire year.
I think, too, of the 417 workers at Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. who will lose their jobs next week – and yet who turned over their entire Helping Hands fund to United Way of Missoula County, not for themselves, but for others. United Way, in turn, created a new fund to help all those affected by the Frenchtown mill’s closure – whether they worked for Smurfit or for one of the many businesses whose well-being is tied to the mill.
And I think of Bronson Parsons and his family. Parsons died two years ago on New Year’s Day, the victim of a hit-and-run driver less than a block from his East Missoula home. He was an organ donor, and his parents have watched – through their unspeakable grief – as their son’s gift has given life to literally dozens of others. They will remember and honor Bronson on a special float in the Rose Parade this New Year’s Day.
Finally, I think of you all: friends, neighbors, family, co-workers, fellow Montanans wherever you are this day. My children’s friends who are spending this Christmas in Iraq and Afghanistan in service to our country. My children who are spending the day at home. May we all hold each other tight this Christmas, and be thankful for our many blessings. This day, and throughout the year.
Sherry Devlin
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