The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Jim Kizer and Carrie Sunwall, with the Great Falls Rescue Mission, were in rural Chinook recently packing and loading hanging art and collectible dolls for transport to the rescue mission located about three blocks southeast of the Great Falls Civic Center. Started in 1963 as a refuge for men down on their luck, the rescue mission now serves men, women and children through programs from temporary housing to free medical clinics conducted by local volunteer medical personnel. The art and dolls will be used in the mission's newest venture, a facility specifically built to house and serve families needing temporary help.

The art and dolls are a gift from Leta Gould of Chinook. Leta, and her late husband, Benton, collected art. They lived in Alaska for several years, and collected many varieties and pieces of native art. They travelled extensively and acquired pieces of art representative of the locales they visited. And they collected art created by many Montana artists. Over the years they put together a rather large and varied amount of art-from hanging pieces to pottery and sculpture.

Asked why she wanted to gift the art to the rescue mission, Leta said, "I've collected a lot of art. When I heard about the mission's new building to house and help homeless families, I thought 'people down on their luck could use something to raise their spirits-like some nice art where they are temporarily living.' That's when I got the idea to donate the hanging art to be used in the building. Recently I acquired a doll collection and decided to donate it as well. I wanted the little girls coming to the mission to have something special of their own."

A new place will get the new art.

As they packed and loaded the art for transport back to Great Falls, Executive Director Kizer and Development Director Sunwall shared about the plans for the art work and dolls. They explained that a new family center, which will accommodate about 34 families, should be completed by October. They are very excited as the new facility will provide temporary housing and other resources to help homeless families get their lives back on track. The Great Falls Rescue Mission has existing housing for men and women with children, but nothing to house families. And they noted, "The need for space to house homeless families seems to be growing in Great Falls."

Describing what the gift of art and dolls will mean to the new Cameron Family Center, Carrie Sunwall explained, "Many of these homeless families show up with nothing but what they can carry. If the kids had any special toys or keepsakes, they often had to be left behind." She told a story about a little girl that came to the mission and had never owned a doll. She saved her money and bought her own doll. Some woodworkers at the mission made a cradle for her to keep the doll in. The workers let her paint and decorate the cradle. Carrie said, "The doll and cradle meant a lot to a little girl with nothing."

Of the dolls, Leta Gould said, "The dolls I donated were a collection. They really aren't the kind of dolls people buy for girls to play with, in fact many are still in their original packaging. But I felt if some little girl could benefit by having her own doll, why the doll was originally made was irrelevant." There were 47 dolls boxed for the trip to Great Falls.

Steve Edwards

Left to right, Jim Kizer, Leta Gould and Carrie Sunwall prepare a doll collection to be transported to the Great Falls Rescue Mission. Leta Gould, of Chinook, donated the 47 dolls from the collection plus a large amount of hanging art for use in a new center that will minister to homeless families. Kizer is the Executive Director and Sunwall is Development Director at the rescue mission.

Jim Kizer was not sure how all the hanging art would be used. He explained, "One of our board members is an artist. She's agreed to look at the art and decide how it should be used. I know some paintings and drawings will go into the rooms where the families will be living and some will hang in the new building's common spaces." Sunwall, who works with fundraising for the mission, added, "It seems we are gifted certain types of items in cycles. Right now we have other donated art and we're thinking about having an art sale as part of our ongoing fundraising efforts. If we decide to sell a gift, we make sure that's okay with the people who donated."

Carrie Sunwall said of Leta and her gift, "Leta is a faithful and generous partner to the mission. It was Leta's idea to donate the art and dolls and we feel very blessed to be the recipient of the gifts." Asked why and how she began supporting the mission, Leta said, "I think I got some promotional material in the mail, you know the kind of stuff you just randomly get. Then I visited the mission and was really impressed with their progressive approach to helping people. That's when I began looking for ways I could help them with their work."

Hopefully families moving into the new facility will get a little 'bright spot' in their day when they see the hanging art. And it's likely some little girls will be enjoying their very own dolls.

You can learn more about the history, mission, programs and ways to help the Great Falls Rescue Mission at http://www.gfrm.org. There's also information about the Cameron Family Center, the new facility where the art and dolls will be utilized.