HELENA — Gov. Greg Gianforte kicked off the 12 Days of Giving Campaign after lighting the State Capitol Christmas tree. Gathering at the base of the Douglas fir, Gianforte donated the first coat to the coat drive put on by One Warm Coat.
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has come to be known as Giving Tuesday. It’s been popularized as a global effort to generously give to organizations and people in order to transform communities worldwide.
Gianforte, along with his wife Susan, used today as an opportunity to each donate a coat to One Warm Coat.
“I was really pleased the first lady and I could make the first contributions and I encourage all state employees and our neighbors to donate a warm coat to help someone out this winter,” says Gianforte.
The 12 Days of Giving campaign included a dozen organizations throughout Helena. The goal is to encourage people to give back to and enrich the lives of Montanans. Each of the next 12 days, they will be highlighting a different organization that Montanans can donate to.
Jeff Buscher at United Way of the Lewis & Clark area says that the holiday season brings in much-needed funds for their 35-partner programs.
“With Covid and everything and the inability for many of our organizations not to have fundraising events and things like that, it then kind of falls to us as a fundraising agency to help them pick up the slack,” says Buscher.
Buscher said he expects that the Helena community will continue to step up to the plate and do what’s right to help their neighbors. “They’re very generous and when they see a need they usually step up to the plate and try to meet that need.”
If you would like to drop off a coat, you can stop by the state capitol to donate.
