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

In a year like no other, it was even more important to organizers of the Chinook Community Thanksgiving Dinner for the event to continue. "We really didn't want to let it go. We felt like if you skip a year it's really hard to get it started again," said Betty Billmayer.

Their efforts were extremely appreciated as the total number of meals served exceed previous years. "We served approximately 190 Meals, 90 delivered and 100 picked up," said Billmayer.

This year's crew included Betty and Mark Billmayer. Jay and Barb Eslick, Kathy O'Brien, Barbara Weber. Dick and Kristoffer Nicholson, along with Andre Silva who dished up the meals. Wilma and Perry Alcorn have been in charge of deliveries for many years and were assisted this year by Shawn and Lawanna Harvey and Makhayla Farmer.

The annual dinner has been a staple in the community since the early 80's. No one is for certain the exact year but from the beginning the community has supported it very well.

Under normal circumstances major financial support would be made by supporters that have included the Inman family, NorthWestern Energy and First Bank of Montana in the past. Through the years many diners have also made significant contributions, though no one is asked to pay for the dinner.

With Covid-19 restrictions and all the other circumstances that have made hosting events or community gatherings nearly impossible in 2020, organizers took a new approach to putting on this years dinner.

No solicitations were made this year, "Well there is an ongoing fund that was started at the very beginning, and every year there is a substantial amount of donations received, so we had money to get the food. Finley's does a great job ordering everything for us and they give us a nice discount. This year we received a number of donations through the mail as well," said Billmayer.

The next part in making the dinner possible was a significant change to the menu. This year Ham was the main course and simplicity of preparation was the main reason why, "With Covid we wanted to keep the help needed to a minimum and that's part of the reason for going with the simpler meal. People really enjoyed it," added Billmayer.

Betty made the Pumpkin bars and as she has done for many years Dorris Hamilton made the pumpkin dessert for all the deliveries. "Mark and I went and put the hams on Wednesday and let them cook much of the day, then we went in first thing Thursday and sliced the Hams," Betty noted.

Deliveries were then put together and meal pick up began Thanksgiving Day at 11 a.m. at the Blaine County Fairgrounds Commercial Building.

"We actually ran out of ham with about 30 meals left to prepare. Jay got a hold of Jeff Finley at the store and we were able to get about 25 pounds of the rolled ham to finish the orders. So we learned a little lesson there," added Betty. "It was much easier than turkey, stuffing potatoes and gravy just a much simpler meal and people seemed to like it."

Jay helps rally the troops but is quick to point out that it all happens because of remarkable people in the community, "I think the dinner was extremely successful with all that we had to deal with and all the circumstances going on. We are so appreciative for all the community support, all the people involved to make this happen, Bettie, Mark, Dick, Kathy, the list goes on. It just amazes me that so many people want to help."

Jay was quick on his feet when it became apparent their wasn't enough Ham, "Hats off to Jeff, he immediately said no problem and we picked up more hams and we were able to complete the meals, thank god he was available."

Each meal was assembled for either pick up or delivery and then distributed in a secure manner.

"Its just a blessing to be able to be a part of a small community where we can get together and do something like this and we have fun in the process," added Betty. "We are only able to do this because of the generosity of our community. The Blaine County Fairboard allowing us to use the facility was huge, it worked out perfectly," said Jay.

Overall it was a huge success and Betty was thrilled with how things went, "We were actually home by 2:00 p.m. everything went really well. Mark and I have talked about holding a Christmas Dinner as well. We talked with Jay and Kathy and they liked the Idea and we scheduled a meeting for the coming day. Hopes are to get it done."

The importance of holding the dinner was significant to Betty, "Especially this year, people needed this and thats some of the reason for us wanting to do a Christmas Dinner. Maybe it will become a tradition or maybe its just a one time thing but right now its just been a hard year and we would like to be able to bless as many people as we can with Christmas Cheer."