Monthly Meetings
All Pioneers & Employees are welcome
Billings - Life Member luncheon – 11:30 a.m., 3rd Thursday, Golden Corral, 570 S. 24th West.
Butte – Retirees luncheon – Noon, 3rd Tuesday, Gamers Café.
Great Falls – Retirees luncheon –
11:30 a.m., 2nd Wednesday, Elks Club.
Helena – Pioneer board meeting – 7 p.m.,
3rd Tuesday, 441 N. Park, 1st floor break room.
Helena - Life Member luncheon – 11:30 a.m., 3rd Friday, at Perkins Restaurant.
Miles City – Life Member luncheon – noon, 3rd Friday, at the Airport Inn.
Missoula – Life Member luncheon–11:30 a.m. 2nd Wednesday, Montana Club on N. Reserve.
Note: Not all clubs meet during the summer; regular meetings resume in September.
Helena Picnic set for July 15
Pioneers, Qwest employees and their families are all invited to the Little Red School House picnic on Wednesday, July 15.
The annual event is always a great time to catch up on what’s happening with old friends and to meet some new ones.
Burgers and hotdogs will be on the grill from 5 to 7 p.m. Cost is $5 per person, $2 for children under 12.
Please call Peg Flynn (458-9008) if you can come, to help us plan for food. If you’re willing to bring a salad, please let Peg know that, too.
Bring the family and come join us.
Backpacks stuffed again
Billings Pioneers helped provide backpack supplies again this year to ensure that children brought into the Billings foster care program have some of the essential supplies to make a new start.
Local club members donated clothing, school supplies and other materials to the Forever Families group, which manages the foster care Backpack program. The club also donated $100 to purchase diapers.
In addition, Eleanor Talmage donated four sleeping bags, which went to the Camp Connection program. This week-long summer camp lets siblings who live in different foster care homes spend time together and stay connected.
According to Arloa Weiss, who has helped coordinate the backpack drive to several years, the Forever Families group was especially grateful for the supplies, as the economy has created extra challenges for the organization.
Great job and thank you!
Pioneers step-up for troops
Helena Pioneers again showed how much they appreciate and stand behind our military personnel through their support of this year’s Montana Supporting Soldiers “Cool-Aid” Relief effort.
Qwest employees were very generous, donating money and supplies to help with the project. Pioneers responded to the request in our spring newsletter and sent in donations to support the effort. Those who attended the May 5 o'clock social also pitched in.
In total, we collected almost $550, in donations and supplies. Noting our members’ support for this effort, the Frontier Club Pioneers added about $240 to help purchase supplies. The club also donated $300 directly to the Montana Supporting Soldiers (MSS) group to help cover shipping costs.
As a result, almost $800 worth of the most requested items – powdered drink mix, toiletries, T-shirts and socks, snacks and puzzle books – have been sent to our troops in the Middle East to help make summer a little more bearable.
In addition, some of our Pioneers joined the MSS group to help run concessions at the Helena Air Show. Money raised there will help the group cover shipping costs.
Our thanks to the many Pioneers and employees who helped with the project. MSS continues to raise funds to cover expenses, so Pioneers can still help by sending tax-deductible donations to Qwest Pioneers, c/o Bob McMillan, 105 Wedgewood Lane, Helena, MT 59601.
Officer nominees for 2010
The Nominating Committee presents this slate of officers for 2010. Elections will be held in August in Helena and in September in Billings.
Any Pioneer member in good standing can vote in their respective club election, either by attending the regular meeting or by requesting and voting a ballot prior to the club election. Ballots and meeting information are available from Nominating Committee Chair Joe Edwards on 933-5353. Additional candidates may be nominated at the election meetings.
Nominees are:
Frontier Club – Helena
President – Frank Flynn
Vice President – Margaret Smith
Yellowstone Valley Club – Billings
President – Kammy Perdew
Vice President – Bettie Erickson
Montana Chapter
President – Terri Rogers
Vice President – Dean Mack
Billings Life Member leaders
Talk to anyone involved in a volunteer organization these days and you hear two things very clearly: It’s increasingly difficult to find people to lead the group and projects; and those leaders are critical, not only to achieving the group’s mission, but to its very survival.
The Billings Life Member group has found some of those leaders and Billings Pioneer President Kammy Perdew would like to recognize and thank them.
In Billings, Life Members Judy Dodge, Bettie Erickson, Bernadine Harris, Mary Hedges and Raenell Townsley all stepped in to lead a monthly luncheon this year. John Bruce is on deck to lead the luncheon activities in September when the group resumes meeting after summer break. Several of these folks also make reminder calls for the meetings.
Pioneering and its work are worthwhile, and we’re grateful to those people across Montana who help move the organization forward. Thanks to all of you!
Pioneers purchase library books
As part of our continuing Pioneer focus on education, the Helena Pioneers have donated $500 to buy books for the elementary school libraries in Helena.
For several years, the Pioneers have teamed with the Helena Education Foundation to make award-winning books available to elementary students. The HEF’s Fabulous First program purchases a selection of books and gives one book to every first grader in the Helena Schools to encourage early reading.
The Pioneer grant helps buy copies of the books for the grade school libraries, so that all elementary students have access to all the books.
5 o’clock social set for September
In May, about 20 Pioneers gathered for refreshments and a chance to visit with friends.
One of the items of discussion was “when should we meet again?”
The group thought it worth trying to get together again this fall to see if more people could attend.
In earlier get-togethers, more than 30 Pioneers had attended, and people theorized that some people had been thoroughly distracted by the arrival of the first really nice spring weather on the meeting day.
We’re planning the event for Monday, September 21, at the Staggering Ox/Red Atlas in the Lundy Center, Helena. (Mark your calendars now, as we won’t publish another newsletter before then.)
Pioneers on the Internet
Have an interest in what Pioneers are doing across the region or the country? Here are a couple websites you might want to check.
Information about the Montana chapter and our local activities are on qwestpioneers.org. “Find your chapter” is the top button on the left and you’ll see a listing of all the state chapters in the Qwest region, including Montana.
This year, Kammy Perdew, our Billings club president, has done a nice job of maintaining our chapter information. Thank you, Kammy.
You can connect to the international website at pioneersvolunteer.org.
