Annual Brunch with Santa needs support
Youngsters visit with Santa during the Rotary Brunch with Santa in this file photo.
Members of the Columbia Falls Rotary Club are pounding away in Santa’s workshop to come up with gifts and toys for the silent auction at the club’s annual “Brunch with Santa” fundraiser Dec. 7.
“Technically we’re pounding the streets, collecting donations from local businesses and community leaders, not manufacturing Christmas gifts in Santa’s workshop,” said Rotary President Cliff Seiler. “The success of the club’s annual fundraiser depends upon the generosity of the community,” he added, “not Santa’s elves.”
Other than the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, the Brunch has been an annual event, anticipated by children and parents for 15 years. It follows the arrival of Santa at the Night of Lights parade on Nucleus Ave. in downtown Columbia Falls the night before, Friday, Dec. 6.
Timber Creek Village hosts the event with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. to welcome children and families to talk to Santa and Mrs. Claus and to enjoy a meal while gathering with friends and family in the spirit of Christmas. A silent auction runs throughout the morning with bidding on donated gifts, goods and services from area businesses and individuals.
Kids under 12 are free to enter with an adult, for whom tickets for the meal are $10. All proceeds return to the community by means of the charitable work of the Rotary Club.
Club Secretary-Treasurer Roger Elliott said donations of food from local businesses such as The Nite Owl, Tien’s, Laurie’s Deli, Three Forks Grille, and The Uptown Hearth are also critical to the Brunch’s success. Financial institutions and businesses provide sponsorships with donations ranging from a $100 to $1,500 or more in cash.
“This event, and the club’s work throughout the year, couldn’t happen without all this community support,” said Elliott.
It’s the club’s primary fundraiser of the year, said Seiler, which goes to support the Boys and Girls Club; CASA for Kids; Flathead CARE; afterschool sports programs and dictionaries to third-graders; Wildcats Speech/Debate team, and Boy Scout Troop 1941 to name just a few of the local organizations benefitting from Brunch with Santa.
Additionally the club sends high school students to the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy in Montana each summer and provides a $500 scholarship to RYLA campers who continue their education beyond high school. Donations and club-member dues also support international projects, such as polio immunization and work in Guatemala providing clean water in rural communities.
In addition to financial support club members donate time and labor to the Food Panty, Land-to-Hand, and to other organizations and community projects as the need arises.
Businesses and individuals who have not been contacted and wish to donate, or for more information, call Seiler at 406-897-2514 and leave a message, or send an email to rotaryclubcolumbiafallsmt@gmail.com. Cash donations can also be made via PayPal on the club’s Facebook page CFallsRotary.