Yellowstone Valley Woman Magazine

COMPLIMENTARY

BILLINGS’ MOST READ MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2022

open arms

with with

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arms

Nancy Van Maren helps lead the charge to welcome Afghan evacuees to Billings

Hiding in Plain Sight Billings Billings Counselor Counselor in in national national spotlight spotlight

The Long Journey Home The The high high tech, tech, high high stakes stakes trip trip from from Ukraine Ukraine

When Culture Meets Fashion Indigenous Indigenous designers' designers' native-inspired native-inspired looks looks

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Billings

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Letter

FROM THE

Editor

MOTHERHOOD.

As we made our way down the street, it was clear her 2-yearold didn’t want to walk anymore.

She said a few words I didn’t understand and as I looked down, there she was, reaching her arms up to me. My heart melted. As she clung to my jacket, I could see her little face looking at mine, and sometimes I’d get a quick smile out of her. The trust these families have was amazing — from the 9-month-old boy all the way up to the father who shared his experiences with the Taliban as we sat on the couch in his living room. Trust. It’s what Nancy and this small group developed. It’s mothering a community.

It’s hard to define. Does it deliver generous hugs and unconditional love?

Does it equate to compassion and putting the needs of others before your own? What is it?

As we started to put together this Mother’s Day issue, we realized that there are some courageous and inspiring women who, though they don’t have children themselves, are doing their fair share of mothering. They are using their hearts, talents and time to nurture. They are mothering a community.

The subject of our cover story is a mother to four children — two biological and two through marriage. Her kids are all but grown, but these days she spends her time mothering two families, hoping for the best for both of them. A year ago, these families sat in a war-torn country and looked evil in the eye daily. Today, Nancy Van Maren and a small group in Billings are walking alongside these families who were evacuated from Afghanistan last August and are now starting their new lives here.

One of Nancy’s partners in the mission, Rachel Simonson, said it so well: “What trust it must have taken to have put their lives in our hands.”

And so, the members of this group pour out their compassion, mothering these families every step of the way.

I witnessed the beautiful relationships created by this group many times during the course of writing this story. One will stick with me for a while. Nancy and I dropped by to visit one of the families to ask if their children could be with her as we took her photo for our cover. Using hand signals, Nancy asked if the mother of three wanted to come with us as we walked down to the nearby park. The mother shook her head, smiled and in her broken English said, “Nancy, go.” Then she repeated her words and nodded as if to say, “It’s OK, I trust you.” What a beautiful thing.

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We see mothers too in Kee Dunning, who gives her love to children battling mental illness with everything she has. She knows the stakes are too high to do anything else. She’s going to be at the center of a Ken Burns documentary on the subject and we hope sincerely that you attend the premiere in June. “I believe in my soul that I can love everyone whole,” Kee will tell you. She is mothering a community.

There are more stories that showcase the deep and powerful attributes of a mother’s love. All are inspiring. All share hope. All show strength. We were so honored and blessed to have these women open their hearts to us.

This issue is dedicated to mothers – those who have given birth and those who haven’t. We honor the love you give others in order to help them make their way in this world. Keep doing what you do best.

Enjoy this issue! ✻

Julie

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MAY/JUNE 2022 On The Cover

32 WITH OPEN ARMS

Nancy Van Maren helps lead the charge to welcome Afghan evacuees to Billings

Mothering a Community

12 FEARLESS IN THE FACE OF HER FUTURE Single mom of 7 redefines herself

18 BUILDING SONSHINE HOUSE

Twin sisters hope to open a safe haven for pregnant teens and young moms

22 EMPOWERED BY DIVINE GROWTH

32

Helping teens in foster care heal

28 HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Billings counselor hits a national stage spotlighting youth mental illness

32 WITH OPEN ARMS

Nancy Van Maren helps lead the charge to welcome Afghan evacuees to Billings

Features

40 THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

A messaging app, a dear friend & her faith helped Yuliya Johnson unite with her Ukrainian mother

46 'WE CAN'T GO BACK'

Eastern European women pursue the American Dream

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50 CHANGING FLOWERS

From an abusive adoptive home to a strong mom of three, Lily is a survivor

54 38 SEPTEMEBERS

After many missed birthdays, Billings man digs for the truth about his biological mom

60 CELEBRATING 50 YEARS

The Women behind the success of Yellowstone County Head Start

66 GETTING RID OF THE SHAME

Fitness instructor shares her story of stress incontinence to help other women

70 GIVE A LITTLE HAPPINESS YVW's Mother's Day Gift List

72 WHEN CULTURE MEETS FASHION

90

Indigenous designers put their native-inspired looks on the runway

90 COOKING UP COLLABORATION

Billings Chef joins minds to create new cultural flavors

YVW Home

98 GOING SOLAR

More Homeowners Making Their Own Energy

102 READY, SET, GROW!

Prepping your yard for a season of fresh herbs, blossoms and vegetables

108 LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE

Creating function and space in a smaller home

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IN EVERY ISSUE 58 78 84 86 106

HEART GALLERY: Meet Kenny FASHION: Go Monochromatic KAREN GROSZ: Quiet Leadership TASTE OF THE VALLEY: Waste Not LOOK WHAT WE FOUND: Budget Friendly Bench

MEET the STAFF PUBLISHER & EDITOR JULIE KOERBER julie@yellowstonevalleywoman.com COPY EDITOR ED KEMMICK SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR LAURA BAILEY

ED KEMMICK

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M

Mothering a community THEY NURTURE.

They selflessly give.

They love. There’s a powerful feeling when your mothered and nurtured in a full-bodied, unconditional way. Meet the women right here in Billings who are dishing out motherly love to parts of our community and doling out compassion and care simply because they want to bring out the best in others.

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written by CYDNEY HOEFLE photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

SINGLE MOM OF 7 REDEFINES HERSELF

IN THE FACE OF HER FUTURE

earless

IF SOMEONE HAD told Theresa Bybee two and a half years

ago that she would soon be a single mom, own a thriving business, have a bachelor’s degree and be on verge of starting to earn her master’s, she would have said they were crazy. She’s endured and overcome a lot in that short amount of time.

Theresa, with seven children ages 12 to 23, loved being an athome-mom. She homeschooled her children, was active in her church and the homeschool community, and was married to her high school sweetheart.

“I can truly look back and say I was happy,” she says. “I loved being a mom and a wife and teaching my kids. It’s what I’d always wanted to do and it’s what I had done for the prior 20 years.”

But life took a sharp turn and as Theresa says, “My glass house shattered, and my life blew up.”

Stress, finances and personal difficulties that the family had been dealing with for several years began to rock its foundation.

Theresa’s oldest son, 20, tried to commit suicide. The family was suddenly thrown into a life revolving around the psychiatric unit, doctors, therapists, lockdowns and medications. As they worked to help their son figure out how to move forward, it was decided that the younger children would attend public school instead of being homeschooled. Theresa enrolled them, knowing it would take some adjusting.

Just a few days after her eighth-grade daughter began junior high, she attended a suicide awareness program at school and filled out a questionnaire geared toward determining if a student might be struggling with suicidal thoughts. Her truthful answers alerted the school’s counselor, who contacted Theresa and her husband immediately. That daughter began the same treatments that her older brother just finished.

But their troubles weren’t over. Just a few months later, Theresa’s oldest daughter and second- oldest child tried to take her own life.

“It was unbelievable,” Theresa says, tearing up. “Within three months, three of my kids wanted to kill themselves. I didn’t know what was happening. I was scared to death.”

In the midst of the turmoil and the emotional upheaval, Theresa says her marriage disintegrated.

“I would have done anything to save it,” she says quietly. “I loved my husband so much that I thought we’d be the last people to ever consider divorce. But that’s what happened. He left and I was left picking up all the pieces.”

As Theresa tried to keep it together for her children, she began to experience panic attacks, severe bouts of anxiety and overwhelming waves of grief. She was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Not only was she trying to be there MAY/JUNE 2022

13

for her children, but she needed help herself, all while trying to find a home for everyone and then figuring out a way to support them.

“I was hurting, and my kids were hurting,” she says. “It pained me to watch them and not be able to fix it for them. And how was I supposed to support everyone? My skills were diaper changing, teaching kids to read, cooking and cleaning.”

As she worked to get herself healthy, she wondered: “Was I going to be a victim of my situation or was I going to do something about it? A friend looked me in the eye and said, ‘Theresa, you’re a grown-ass woman! This is your life.’ It’s what I needed to hear. I realized that I was in control of me, and it was time to sink or swim.”

She knew that she couldn’t leave her children for an 8-to-5 job and make enough to support them, so she decided to offer herself as an interior and exterior house painter, with her experience painting her own homes giving her the confidence.

The name of her company is Theresa Paints.

WE’RE NOT MEANT TO CARRY OUR GRIEF ALONE. I COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO STAY IN MY GRIEF AND GO IT ALONE, OR I COULD REINVENT WHO I AM AND MOVE FORWARD. I DID IT WITH OTHER PEOPLE. — Theresa Bybee

“A good friend, who is a contractor, asked me to paint some of his projects. It grew from there. From the very start, I’ve been able to support my family,” she says. “Living paycheck to paycheck was a way of life for us. Two years into it, now I have extra in my account. It’s truly a blessing.”

Theresa works hard. Her days are full with work, taking care of her four daughters still at home, and being available for her older kids. But just as she started her business, she made another decision.

“I decided to go back to school,” she says. “I know I can’t paint forever. It’s very physical carrying ladders and five gallons of paint at a time, but it took some time to convince myself. I hadn’t been in school for over 20 years. I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

She enrolled online and began with one five-week course, receiving an “A” in the class. It was a turning point for her.

Since then, she’s been enrolled in online school full time, taking two classes every five weeks. In just two years, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with an emphasis in business, all while working full time and caring for her busy household.

Some days she works until 5 p.m. and then stays up until midnight with schoolwork.

“There’s so many things that have happened that are a blessing 14

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to me,” she says. “I have great kids and a beautiful grandson. They make me laugh and we have fun together. But there are definitely some hard times.”

Friends and extended family have rallied around her and filled in where she couldn’t. She remains in a small group that encourages her, but also keeps her accountable and asks hard questions.

She takes time to be in a community network group and volunteers for several organizations.

“We’re not meant to carry our grief alone,” she says. “I could have chosen to stay in my grief and go it alone, or I could reinvent who I am and move forward. I did it with other people.”

Part of Theresa’s own healing process and witnessing what her children experienced has strengthened the desire in her heart to help fight mental illness. With her psychology degree, she now plans to pursue a master's degree in neuroscience.

“There’s a huge need for help for mental illness and counseling in Billings,” she says. “Suicide is real and it’s happening right in our community. We’re in emergency crisis right here.”

Theresa hopes to fast track her master’s degree in two years’ time and continue painting, which has expanded enough that she’s employed her son-in-law to help her. Her boys are both enrolled at MSU Billings, her oldest daughter is married and is a new mom, and her youngest girls are busy working their way through school.

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“We’re a busy family,” Theresa says.

“We’ve all grown through our trauma and are doing OK. Some days are still hard, but there is life on the other side of broken dreams. This is my life, and I can honestly admit that I am fearless in the face of my future.” ✻

CYDNEY HOEFLE, writer A fourth generation Montanan, Cydney was raised on a ranch on the banks of t h e Ye l l o w s t o n e River where an appreciation of the outdoors was fostered. She and her husband raised three children in Billings and are now the proud grandparents of three. The best part of any of her days is time spent with Jesus, family, friends, a good book or capturing someone’s story in words.

FINANCIAL FOCUS 529 plans: More versatile than ever

by Morgan A Reif, AAMS®, Financial Advisor If you have children or grandchildren, you may already be somewhat familiar with the 529 plan, a popular education savings vehicle. But you may not have kept up with some recent changes in the plan’s capabilities and in the educational environment in which the plan might be used.

Let’s start with the learning environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities switched to online classes, or at least to a hybrid of in-person and online.

And even before the pandemic, many schools offered remote classes, though obviously not to the same extent. But after COVID-19 subsides, it’s likely that the online component will remain an important part of higher education.

What does this “new world” mean for you, when you’re saving for college?

Will a 529 plan still be relevant?

In a word, yes. First of all, a 529 plan can offer tax advantages. Earnings in a 529 plan are federally tax-free, provided the money is used for qualified educational expenses. And if you invest in your own state’s 529 plan, your contributions may be tax deductible. (Withdrawals used for expenses other than qualified education expenses may be subject to federal and state taxes as well as

a 10% penalty.) Because tax issues for 529 plans can be complex, you’ll want to consult with your tax advisor before investing.

Online learning costs are eligible for a 529 plan’s tax benefits just as much as those incurred from in-person classes. Tuition, textbooks, supplies, computers and services – all of these should qualify, assuming the school meets certain criteria. Also, students enrolled half-time or more don’t have to live in a dorm for room and board expenses to be covered by a 529 plan – they can live in off-campus housing.

However, these room-and-board costs typically must equal the cost of living on campus. Some schools identify a specific cost for “commuters” or “at-home students,” so you will need to contact the college directly to determine qualified room-and-board costs.

Now, let’s take a quick look at what some changes in the rules governing 529 plans over the past few years might mean for you. Eligible expenses from your 529 plan include the following: • K-12 expenses – Parents can withdraw up to $10,000 per student, per year, from their 529 plan to pay

for tuition expenses at elementary and secondary schools. So, if you intend to send your children to a private school, this use of a 529 plan might interest you.

• Apprenticeships – 529 plans can be used to pay for fees, textbooks, equipment and other supplies connected to apprenticeship programs registered with the Department of Labor. These programs, typically offered at a community college, combine classroom instruction with on-the-job training.

• Student loans – Families can withdraw funds from a 529 plan to repay the principal and interest for qualified education loans, including federal and most private student loans.

There’s a lifetime limit of $10,000 for student loan repayments per each 529 plan beneficiary and another $10,000 for each of the beneficiary’s siblings.

All of these newer uses of 529 plans may contain additional guidelines and exceptions, and state tax treatment varies, so you’ll want to consult with your tax advisor before taking money from your account. But it’s valuable for you to know the different ways you can put a 529 plan to work.

Graduation is no time to learn you haven’t saved enough for college.

For a free, personalized college cost report, contact your Edward Jones financial advisor today.

A Reif, AAMS® MorganMorgan A Reif, AAMS®

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IRT-1848F-A

FinancialFinancial Advisor Advisor

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Member SIPC Member SIPC

1480 17th1480 St W17th St W Billings, MT 59102-2908 Billings, MT 59102-2908 406-702-1304 406-702-1304

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

Edward Jones, Member SIPC

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors are not estate planners and cannot provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your estate-planning attorney or qualified tax advisor regarding your situation.

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BUILDING

SONSHINE

HOUSE TWIN SISTERS HOPE TO OPEN A SAFE HAVEN FOR PREGNANT TEENS AND YOUNG MOMS written by SUE OLP photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

HEIDI WILLIAMS AND HEATHER PETTY

are a lot

of their children’s friends, who was pregnant and had nowhere to go and knew little about parenting.

The 51-year-old Billings sisters are twins. They share a common bond, a strong Christian faith that guides their lives.

“She didn’t know how to change a diaper or how often to change it,” Heidi says. “She didn’t know how to cook, clean, budget or have any basic skills. It was very sad.”

alike.

Both women are moms, Heidi with a blended family of three children of her own and two her husband brought to the family, and Heather and her husband, parents of four.

Heather calls being a mom “one of my greatest honors, one I do not take lightly.” Heidi shares the sentiment.

About a dozen years ago, that motherly instinct prompted the two women to open their homes to friends of their kids, youths who were either homeless or nearly so. Some stayed a short time, others, as long as five years.

“All of them were in situations where their parents didn’t have the skills to parent, didn’t have financial resources and some were in substance abuse situations,” Heather says. “They started staying with us and became part of our families.”

“It is our mission in life that we show them unconditional agape love that Christ shows to people,” Heidi says. “And in doing that, hopefully through the time they’re with us, whether a day or two years, they will understand that true love. That it comes with no conditions, no strings attached.”

About two years ago, the pair felt drawn to pursue a new mission — to create a “SONshine” house, a place for vulnerable teens.

They narrowed the focus even further, at least to begin with, to girls and young women ages 16 to 21 who are pregnant or already have a baby.

Heidi and her husband once opened their home to a teen girl, one

With large dollops of grace and love and guidance, Heidi taught the young mother the skills she needed not only to survive, but to thrive. Over time, Heather chimes in, the young woman’s life took a new direction.

“She has a full-time job and she’s married,” Heather says. “She was very appreciative of all the help she received.”

They cite statistics that bolstered their desire to help this vulnerable population: * An estimated 4,887 pregnant and parenting youths in Montana are at risk of homelessness. * Only 50 percent of pregnant and parenting teens graduate from high school, with parenting the leading reason for dropping out. * About 25 percent of teen mothers have a second child within 24 months.

Knowing this, the two women sunk their own time and money into creating the nondenominational, nonprofit Love & SONshine Ministries. Their initial goal is to buy or build a house for up to five residents and staff it 24/7 with a resident house parent.

A longer goal is to house 10 residents, but that will require a second home. The eventual hope is to add a transitional living unit where mothers, their babies and the fathers, when it’s possible, can live as they develop the skills they need to go out on their own.

MAY/JUNE 2022

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“Our goal is not a handout, but a hand up,” Heidi says. “Not to institutionalize them but to give them the skills to help them succeed in life.” That will include everything from parenting, nutrition and budgeting classes to helping residents complete their educations and attain jobs to support their families.

Heidi and Heather, both co-directors, have recruited a board of directors to help guide the work and put together a website. The pair launched a capitol campaign in March to raise money to buy or build a home and sustain its work.

“We have discovered there’s no way we can do this alone,” Heidi says. “We need community involvement and support.”

They’re hoping someone will consider donating a lot or piece of land to build a house or sell it below market value. If not that, a donated home would be gratefully accepted. Their goal is to have the home built or bought by the end of the year, plus enough money to fund operating costs for the first two years.

Because Love & SONshine Ministries is faith-based, it is not eligible for most state or federally funded grants. But money has come to the nonprofit in other ways. Last spring, out of the blue, a local businessman wrote them a check for $5,000. Then, a chance meeting between Heather and a board member of the Harnish Foundation led to a sizeable initial grant to Love & SONshine last year and a matching grant of up to $50,000 this year.

“We’ve gotten some wise counsel from the Gianforte Family Foundation and they’ll have a grant for us once we reach a certain amount,” Heidi says. “We’ve been blessed by generous donors.”

The ministry raised $70,000 last year and hopes to reach its capital campaign goal this year of $750,000. The pair is organizing a major fall fundraiser. They’ve met with builders and realtors who have expressed interest in donating their services and hope to find other people who would sponsor the building or remodeling of a room once construction or renovation is underway.

Different opportunities exist for people who want to get involved with the project, Heather says. Volunteering for the marketing and 20

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events committee or eventually joining the building committee once a house is in place are both helpful. For people who can’t contribute big sums, even $10 a month is appreciated, Heather says.

“And prayer, that’s the No. 1 way to get involved right now because there’s so much power in that,” she adds.

One supporter of the ministry is a young woman who, though she was in a long-term relationship, was unmarried when she discovered she was pregnant. “Mary” (not her real name), turned to Heather for support.

“Heather is so gracious and she just always knows the right thing to say,” Mary says. “At that time, I felt the most comfort talking to her, knowing she would be able to help me.”

Eventually Mary and her boyfriend got married, and they now are the parents of a little boy. But Mary remembers the shame she felt and the uncertainty of what to do. She is glad to be part of a ministry that reaches out to other teens who face the same situation.

“I think it’s such an underserved population in our community,” she says. “And, we can really benefit so many young mamas and pregnant women, whether they’re homeless or don’t have the support they need.” ✻

TO LEARN MORE about Love and SONshine Ministries, visit loveandsonshine.org.

SUE OLP, writer Sue Olp worked for many years as a reporter at the Billings Gazette, covering everything from healthcare and education to county government, tribal issues and religion, not to mention plenty of human-interest stories. Now retired, she is a freelance writer and enjoys gardening, reading and spending time with her family, including her grandchildren.

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EMPOWERED BY

divine growth HELPING TEENS IN FOSTER CARE HEAL written by LAURA BAILEY photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

THE JAPANESE HAVE A TRADITIONAL

way of repairing broken pottery that involves using a lacquer mixed with gold powder to mend the vessel back together. It’s called kintsugi, and the process makes the vessel not only more beautiful than before, but also stronger and more valuable.

It’s a fitting metaphor for what Rebecka Perfitt does. She founded the Empowered

by Divine Growth Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports and empowers teens who are in foster care by providing them with healing experiences they would not ordinarily be able to access.

Awhile back, Rebecka led a small group of teen girls through the kintsugi process, starting with their choosing a piece of pottery and then breaking it. Then they pieced the vessels back together using glue and gold leaf to accent the cracks.

Hannah Weischedel, 16, chose a white vase with three faces, which she says reminds her of the different “faces” she wears in life.

“When I put it back together, I felt better, stronger and more beautiful,” Hannah says.

After four long years in foster care, Hannah was adopted on Monday, April 11. She still has the vase as a reminder of her Empowered by Divine Growth experience.

“I’ll look at it and know that it’s going to be better,” Hannah says. “I’m able to fix the pieces that are broken.”

Almost all children in foster care have experienced

trauma and for many, the experience of being in foster care is isolating and sometimes traumatic in itself. Rebecka’s goal is to move them beyond the trauma in non-traditional ways.

“They are victims, but that’s not who they are,” Rebecka says. “I want to empower them, and let them know that you are loved, and you are special.”

For some teens, that looks like an empowering self-defense course or a membership at a kickboxing gym where they can vent their frustrations on a punching bag. Rebecka helped Hannah overcome her fear of heights with rock climbing.

All the teens – mostly girls, along with a few boys – learn yoga and meditation. Rebecka is a certified trauma yoga therapist, and owner of Empowered by Divine Growth LLC, a private yoga practice for survivors of trauma. She works with adults and children, and many are in foster care.

She intimately understands their experiences. Rebecka’s parents divorced when she was 2 years old and was sexually molested when she was 9. Not long after that she began doing drugs with her stepfather and was later placed in foster care. She lived in nine different foster homes before she turned 18. She says the experience of foster care was traumatic and eroded her self-worth.

MAY/JUNE 2022

23

“If they went on vacation, they’d find a home for me to stay,” she says. “You never felt like you were ever a part of the family.”

She left the system after a stint in a correctional facility for girls.

By age 19, Rebecka was pregnant with her first child, a son, and married Jason at 20.

“We all just started growing up together, the three of us,” Rebecka says.

had a long-awaited adoption fall through. It was Mother’s Day 2017, and they were all assembled in the courtroom awaiting the petition for adoption to be signed when the judge reversed his decision and returned the two children they’d had from birth to their mother. The heartache was almost more than Rebecka and Jason could bear and they decided not to continue providing foster care.

“We surrender. Here’s the white flag. We are done,” Rebecka says.

“I knew this was not the path I was supposed to be on.”

Her second child, a daughter, was born when she was 23, and in 2005 the small family relocated to Montana, where Rebecka started practicing yoga.

Wanting to start a new chapter, she turned to yoga and poured herself into becoming trauma-yoga certified. It’s there she also developed a new level of compassion for mothers whose children were removed from their care and placed in foster care.

“It was the first time I ever felt like I was in my own body and not disassociated,” Rebecka says. “It was very empowering.”

“I missed the mark, because these moms, they’re going through all the trauma too,” Rebecka says.

As her two children became older, Rebecka began focusing on her healing. She and her husband decided they wanted to be foster parents. Rebecka wanted to provide the kind of care she never had. Over the years, the couple parented 13 kids, mainly sibling groups for long-term placements.

She wanted to empower those mothers to regain their strength and dignity and, if the courts allowed, have their children back.

Rebecka realized they experienced trauma too and needed healing.

Rebecka and Jason ended up adopting twin girls who are now 6 years old, but before their adoption Rebecka and her husband

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lottery days.”

The seeds for the Empowered by Divine Growth Foundation were planted during a game night with four teen girls, all in foster care.

Rebecka’s hope was to provide them with a connection to someone with the same experience and help them build relationships. She discovered that they had greater needs, and Rebecka set out to meet them.

“THE SKY IS THE LIMIT. THERE IS NO LIMIT ON EMPOWERMENT. — Rebecka Perfitt

One girl had gotten a job but didn’t have transportation, so Rebecka raised money to buy her a bike. Another girl had interest in a career in dermatology, so Rebecka arranged for her to meet several dermatologists and talk to them about their career paths. Then she funded a gym membership for another, and the momentum continued to build from there.

“The sky is the limit,” Rebecka says. “There is no limit on empowerment.”

She has since developed a more formal, but still flexible program. It includes yoga once or twice a week along with guided meditation, and workbooks to help guide foster kids on their healing journey.

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406-839-9100 In 2020, Rebecka was the recipient of a 100 Strong Billings grant of $8,500, which she used to buy laptops for some of the girls in her program. It was during the height of Covid and they needed computers to stay connected for school and socially. She also stocked up on workbooks and used the remaining funds for other projects.

“These teens are working really hard at changing their lives,” Rebecka says.

Eventually, Rebecka hopes that the Empowered by Divine Growth Foundation can help teens pay for college expenses or other non-traditional secondary education. So far, 15 teen girls and two boys have participated in her program, and there are others waiting to participate.

“I get to just go out and be someone I needed when I was younger,” she says. ✻

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YVW MAGAZINE

written by JILL RILEY photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

BILLINGS COUNSELOR HITS A NATIONAL STAGE SPOTLIGHTING YOUTH MENTAL ILLNESS

IN PLAIN SIGHT

iding

SITTING IN THERAPIST

Kee Dunning’s downtown Billings office, it’s clear her life is devoted to advocacy and children. Drawings, kids’ activities, letters from clients, posters and cozy furniture fill the room, providing warmth and welcome.

As she speaks, her passion is infectious. It’s easy to see why clients like 14-year-old Maclayn Clark love her.

In second grade, Maclayn had begun struggling with extreme depression. He was having dramatic outbursts at home, and by the fourth grade, thoughts of suicide started to play in his mind.

He saw a succession of counselors and psychiatrists, and at one point, the family was told Maclayn’s struggles were too severe to be handled in Billings. He was referred to a doctor in Oregon.

Wanting to keep Maclayn close, his family kept searching for the right therapeutic fit for him.

Maclayn recalls the chaos of that season of life. “I just remember that it felt like every day I had a new therapist. I remember the Oregon thing and thinking ‘What’s wrong with me?’”

That’s when Kee Dunning entered his life.

“It was such a blessing,” says Mary Clark, Maclayn’s mother and a science teacher a St. Francis Catholic School. “As soon as we got with Kee, it was like our whole world changed.”

Women’s prison, and an adjunct professor at MSU Billings.

For 16 years Kee worked with Tumbleweed, a nonprofit that cares for the community’s homeless youth. She’s advocated for mental health awareness by doing presentations at School District 2 and for members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She currently writes for Forbes Magazine. Once she got into private practice, however, she knew she was right where she belonged.

“I just go where people have asked me to go,” she says passionately.

“I believe in my soul that I can love everyone whole.”

Asked why she chose this career path, Kee says it was her calling.

“Change begins with families connecting,” she says. “We have to teach people that it's OK to use your words, speak up, be strong in who you are and say what you mean. Those are the things that are so important to me to teach other people.”

BEGINS WITH

CHANGE FAMILIES CONNECTING. WE HAVE TO TEACH PEOPLE THAT IT'S OK TO USE YOUR WORDS, SPEAK UP, BE STRONG IN WHO YOU ARE AND SAY WHAT YOU MEAN. — Kee Dunning

“It’s just like she understands,” Maclayn says.

Kee, a psychotherapist specializing in crisis intervention, originally set out to be a special education teacher. She taught for a while before going on to get two master’s degrees, along with several other endorsements and certifications. Since then, she’s worked as a school counselor at Billings Catholic Schools, a case manager at the Mental Health Center, a therapist at the Montana

Three years ago, when Maclayn was 11, Kee was asked to share her thoughts on youth mental illness with renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. He was serving as the executive producer for a documentary on the topic. Kee asked the Clarks if they would join her in the journey and share Maclayn’s story. Mary’s response was, “I don’t think this is going to be good for our family.” She thought it was a journey meant for just their family and close friends.

When they proposed the idea to Maclayn, he had a different take on it. He asked, “Well, who’s going to see it?”

When Kee told him, “I think the goal is for everyone in different schools to see it as well as therapists, doctors, pediatricians. You know, everyone.”

His response was, “OK, well, if it’s going to help one person, it’s worth it. Let’s do it!” He says, “I wanted people to know there are MAY/JUNE 2022

29

others like me, who are struggling.” Maclayn says his parents didn’t want the project to open his wounds wider and to have him struggle more, “But I just thought that if I’m going through this, then I know I can help other people.”

The two-part, four-hour documentary, “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness,” shares the journeys of more than 20 young people from all over the country, including Maclayn, who have struggled with mental illness.

“The Ken Burns project is about bringing change and awareness to the world,” Kee says. The film will be aired all over the world, including a screening at the White House. The mission is to bring awareness and healing and to encourage people to start talking about the issue by highlighting real people. The film also features Gabe Peaselee from Miles City, who is also a client of Kee’s.

Kee isn’t sure how she got on Ken Burns’ radar, she was just invited. “I guess they saw the work I was doing and invited me into conversation,” she says. That conversation led Kee to be in front of the camera for an eight-hour interview.

“I’m so honored and grateful to have this opportunity to tell the world that we’ve got to do a better job," Kee says, referring to the fact that Montana has been in the top five for the past two decades when it comes to suicide rates.

As the June premiere date inches closer, “I’m excited and nervous,” Maclayn says. “I’m really excited that people will be able to see it and just kind of know there’s light at the end of the tunnel.” He’s nervous about putting himself out on an international stage. “But I want to stay optimistic about it, because it’s going to help a lot of people. That’s all we need,” he says.

“From wanting to take your life to now this journey of strength is amazing,” Kee says of Maclayn. “Maclayn is amazing and stronger than most of us.”

Kee says she’s honored to have the privilege of helping care for some of the community’s most vulnerable.

“All the way along this journey in my life and career in Billings, I have been embraced and really loved on by the people in our community, which I really am grateful for,” she says.

She’s hoping the community supports this powerful documentary when it hits the screen at the Alberta Bair Theater in late June.

She wants to fill every seat.

“I want everyone in Billings, Montana, and our state of Montana to see this film,” Kee says. “I want there to be standing room only.

I want Billings, Montana, to lead the way for a greater love for all. And I really want to reduce the stigma of mental illness and suicidality. Kids are dying, younger and younger. If we don’t talk about it, the risk is much greater for our kids.” ✻

JILL RILEY, author/journalist/photographer Jill has lived in the Yellowstone Valley for 20 years where she and her husband have raised four amazing children. She is the proud military mom of her daughter and son in law, both serving their country in the United States Air Force. In addition to writing for the YVW, Jill is a minister with the Evangelical Covenant Church, where she writes for the bi-monthly Covenant Companion.

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HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT THE BILLINGS PREMIERE The film is premiering over the course of two nights —June 27 and 28 — at the Alberta Bair Theater. The documentary gives voice to the experiences of young people who struggle with mental health challenges and focuses on the importance of awareness and empathy. You can get complementary tickets by emailing billings.burns.tickets@gmail.com. Find out more about the film and related projects by visiting wellbeings.org.

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o IN AUGUST OF 2021, when

U.S. troops were beginning their withdrawal from Afghanistan, news reports showed the chaos that hit the streets of Kabul, the capital city. Taliban fighters overtook the land with little resistance, igniting a storm of political and civil unrest. Reports suggested that those with ties to the United States government — translators, security personnel, military contractors — would have targets on their backs.

Back here in Billings, Nancy Van Maren watched intensely as the scenes unfolded. She was in the middle of getting her master’s in humanitarian and disaster leadership from Wheaton College, and the news tugged at her heart strings.

“I started watching all the news pieces,” Nancy says, and she read everything she could find about the situation. “I know that was tilling the soil for me to respond when I had an opportunity.”

At about the same time, as she and her husband, George, were on their way back from taking their son, Christian, to the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York for his freshman year, she got an invitation for a Zoom call out of the blue.

“The meeting was in 15 minutes with our program director,” Nancy says. “There was an opportunity to deploy — that’s what they call it — to a military base to welcome Afghan evacuees.”

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After the U.S. military’s withdrawal, 120,000 Afghans were evacuated, and more than 80,000 came to the United States since then.

“I left September 1st for Fort Pickett, Virginia and was there until the 22nd,” Nancy says. “We didn’t even know what we would be doing when we got there, but we became part of the team that processed evacuees – creating a database for the State Department for resettlement.”

Over time, the Virginia military base that is normally home to Army National Guard training was set up like a small city, caring for thousands of Afghans who fled their country. One of a seven military bases set up nationwide to welcome them, the base not only provided food, clothing and shelter but it helped evacuees get started on all the paperwork they’d need to resettle here.

“No one was ready for this – nobody,” Nancy says. “It wasn’t like they had systems in place or cots waiting. There were all these people arriving. You were building the plane as you fly it.”

Working with an interpreter and armed with her own computer, Nancy met with families to gather basic information that would later be used by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

WITH

open arms NANCY VAN MAREN HELPS LEAD THE CHARGE TO WELCOME AFGHAN EVACUEES TO BILLINGS written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

“We learned a few rudimentary phrases, like salaam and to put our right hand over our heart as a greeting of peace,” Nancy says.

“Usually with your translator you’d say – ‘I am very sorry for the circumstances that brought you here but we are very glad you are here.’”

The days were long and exhausting.

“I remember thinking, we are just a drop of water in this sea,” Nancy says of her role at Fort Pickett. “You feel so small. Really?

This is helping?” When her time at the military base ended, Nancy remembers intense emotions bubbling to the surface.

“When I left Fort Pickett, I know I cried,” Nancy says. “What can I do?

How can I stay connected? None of them will ever come to Montana. We don’t have a resettlement agency.

How can I have fallen in love with these people?”

“In October, they announced you don’t have to go through a resettlement agency. You can go through a sponsor circle,” Nancy says, adding that this opened the door for Billings to welcome Afghans.

A sponsor circle is made up of at least five community members committed to walking alongside Afghan evacuees as they settle in their new country. Once the sponsor circle application is accepted and the members pass a background check, they spring into action, helping evacuees to access housing, enroll their children in school, find jobs, seek healthcare and start taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes if needed.

WHEN PEOPLE ARE GIVEN THE CHANCE TO SEE THEM AS PEOPLE, THEY AREN’T OPPOSED TO THEM. BUT WHEN THEY BELIEVE THINGS ABOUT THEM THAT REALLY AREN’T TRUE, IT’S EASIER TO DEMONIZE THEM.

Lisa Harmon has been immersed in immigration and refugee issues for years. As a member of the group Billings Sanctuary Rising, she and a handful of others, including Eric Basye of Community Leadership and Development Inc. (CLDI), have been working to find ways to advocate for a resettlement office in Billings.

— Nancy Van Maren Since 1980, the resettlement of refugees has taken place through one “It just seemed like all of the things of nine resettlement organizations. were lining up for us to do this,” Lisa “They have offices all over the U.S.,” says. The group started meeting Nancy says. Since Billings didn’t more than a year ago. “That God have a resettlement office, she knew the need but had no way to moment is Nancy taking this master’s class. The God moment lend a hand. is Eric from CLDI, who does housing,” Lisa adds. The group that would form the sponsor circle was rounded out by Jeromy The system, however, was incredibly strained. The cap on Emerling from First Christian Church, and Rachel Simonson of refugees allowed into the country varied between 70,000 and St. John’s United.

140,000. “Under the previous administration, it dropped to 18,000 and they didn’t even meet that,” Nancy says. As a result, “We sat and we prayed and said, ‘God, if this is what you want us resettlement agencies closed and powered down staff. Then, the to do, lead us. Have our eyes wide open,’” Lisa says.

Afghanistan situation happened.

MAY/JUNE 2022

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EVACUEES ARRIVE AT FORT PICKETT, VA

By December, the group finished the exhaustive application process to be a sponsor circle. They promised to help up to 15 evacuees and launched a grassroots effort to raise upwards of $70,000 to support their efforts. No federal funds were involved.

It was a community effort.

“On New Year’s Eve, we heard that our sponsor circle had been

approved, and then, on January 29, the first family arrived,” Nancy says. “On the day of the first family’s arrival, I had severe butterflies. Someone likened it to the feeling swirling around adoption.”

She remembers standing with a crowd near the baggage claim area of Billings Logan International Airport holding a welcome sign with words written in both English and Pashto.

She was looking for the mom, dad and their seven children who had already been through so much. The family left Afghanistan in late August of 2021 in a C-17 cargo plane with hundreds of others.

“There are no seats, no bathrooms and you’re packed in there like cattle, sitting on the floor for hours,” Nancy says. “That’s how they evacuated these people.” The family was taken to Qatar and Spain before coming to Fort Picket in Virginia last October. They stayed on the military base all the way up to their Billings arrival in January.

A second family — a father, mother and their three children — were welcomed in late February. We should mention that as these families get settled, Nancy and the rest of the sponsor circle felt it was important to shield their identities, at least for now.

Sitting near Nancy’s dining room, which also now acts as a makeshift office, she reaches and opens a blue file folder. It’s barely an eighth of an inch thick, yet it shares in black and white what little she knows about the backgrounds of both families.

“You are not supposed to ask a traumatized person about their trauma,” she says. After working at Fort Pickett, she knows every single refugee that has come through our borders has been vetted with iris scans and government background checks.

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ON

NDRIA HARM

N MAREN & O

, NANCY VA KALLIE LINSE

“Both of the men worked for the U.S. military.

One was a driver for security forces since 2008,” Nancy says. And while the paper doesn’t spell it out, she knows the man’s wife broke down recently at a doctor’s appointment when they

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asked if she felt sad recently. Nancy says a routine depression screening revealed the nature of what these families endure.

“She has ongoing fear for her relatives that are still in Afghanistan. Her brother is being hunted by the Taliban, probably because he worked for Americans.” Also, Nancy says, “The other father was a platoon leader in the Afghan Army. This weekend, he pulled up his shirt and showed my husband his scars. He was shot by the Taliban twice.”

At the heart of it all, both men have simple dreams.

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“They both mentioned that they wanted their kids to be educated and to be able to grow up in safety,” Nancy says.

Not long after the second family arrived, Lisa turned the basement of First United Church where she is a pastor into a lively get together for the two families. The smell of lamb stew, butternut squash soup and goat kebobs lingered in the air. Little hands reached for dried fruits and nuts as the families enjoyed some of the flavors of home.

“When the families saw each other for the first time, because they speak the same language, it was really incredible to watch,” Lisa says. “There were a lot of tears — tears of joy. The two fathers recognized each other. Their embrace lasted several minutes.”

“They had been in Kandahar together,” Nancy says. “It was really quite special.”

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“I SEE THEM ALMOST EVERY DAY AND WHEN I DON’T, I MISS THEIR BEAUTIFUL EYES. I MISS THEIR CURIOUS WAYS AND CURIOSITY ABOUT THEIR NEW WORLD.” — Ondria Harmon

Since the families arrived, the one thing Nancy says she needs more than anything is time. As one of the family’s caseworkers, her days are full. On one particular day, she called Human Resources Development Council about a form one of the families needed, responded to a handful of emails, ran errands and headed off to St. Johns United for a meeting, all before 9 a.m. She worked on trying to figure out some of the families’ medical bills, made an agenda for a meeting with the group’s new volunteer coordinator, drove with lunch in tow to a meeting at CLDI, delivered some boxes filled with goodies to the families, got grocery money for each family, and then ended the day with a budget meeting with the two fathers.

“You are starting from the ground up,” Nancy says of the layers of care.

The families are still getting a sense of time and how to read an American calendar. They had to learn what a washing machine was and how to use a bus pass to get across town. They’d never had a bank account. One of the men was able to quickly get a job.

The other has been waiting for close to two months for his official paperwork to arrive. He has a job waiting, but no paperwork.

Then, there’s the language barrier. While the group thought they could use the app Google Translate, by day two they realized there was a severe gap in how these families read the words. They had to pivot quickly. Since then, they’ve invested in translators and created a shared calendar, letting each volunteer know what translator will be available and when.

Ondria Harmon, one of Nancy’s close friends, also serves as a case manager. In the spring of 2021, she says, Nancy showed up on her doorstep with a half dozen yellow tulips and the book, “After the Last Border.” The book takes an intimate look at the lives of two refugee women as they struggle to resettle in Austin, Texas. One woman is from Myanmar, the other from Syria.

“Something sparked in my heart at that point,” Ondria says. “Once I took the dive in, it was over. I couldn’t look back.”

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Last summer, weeks before the crisis erupted in Afghanistan, Ondria wrapped up her certification to teach English as a Second Language from Cambridge University. She’s still surprised at the timing of it all.

“It was all because of this. I had no other reason,” Ondria says.

The families have tutors coming into the home to help them with functional language. As they learn new words, Ondria says, “All of a sudden, the mother has something new to tell me and she can tell me that story with just a few words and a whole lot of charades. It’s priceless.”

As she shares the beauty of her experience working directly with these families, she and Nancy relay one of the more memorable days when they were taken on a tour to see where their children might be going to school.

you. We are going to work something out. We don’t know what that looks like but don’t panic. We aren’t going anywhere.”

Each family member is here as what’s called a humanitarian parolee. They will have two years from the time they enter the

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“They packed everybody up, got everyone there, went through the tour and with one of their translators, one of the dads said, ‘This is all very nice but I don’t think I am going to be able to afford it.’” Nancy says when he found out he didn’t have to pay for his children’s education, “He came visibly undone.”

“He turned to me and through the translator, the translator said, ‘He wants to say thank you to the community. For the first time, he knows what living is.’” You can hear the emotion in her voice as Ondria adds, “If there is nothing after this, it’s been 100 percent worth it.”

Typically, a sponsor circle walks alongside a family for 90 days as they get on their feet. With delays and struggles to get financial security, Nancy says she’s had to tell these families that, even though time is running out, it is going to be OK. “They are very worried. They lose sleep. They cry,” Nancy says.

One of the wives called Ondria in tears. “She called her saying, ‘What is going to happen after 90 days? What is going to happen?

We can’t speak English. What are we going to do? Are they going to turn us out?’ Nancy says. “We keep saying, we are not leaving

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“WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND 98 PERCENT OF WHAT IS BEING SAID AROUND YOU? WHAT WOULD THAT DARKNESS OF UNDERSTANDING BE LIKE? I THINK THAT WOULD BE REALLY, REALLY HARD AND I WANT TO SMOOTH THE PATH FOR THEM. — Nancy Van Maren

country to apply for asylum or find another country to accept them.

“I think of the trauma that they have been through,” says Rachel Simonson, who by day works as the planned giving specialist at St. John’s United. Within the group, she volunteers to help with all the details related to employment.

“It’s been total chaos from the moment that they were born,” Rachel says, acknowledging the war and unrest that’s been ongoing in Afghanistan for decades. “Then, they were ripped from their country and plopped here in America. What trust it must have taken to have put their lives in our hands. I think about it all the time. It weighs heavily on my heart. We can’t be unsuccessful.

These families have to make it here.”

Since stepping into the role, she’s helped find jobs for the men.

She’s taught classes on how to cook on a budget and how to stretch their dollars. She’s also been on the front lines of the talk to get Billings on the map for a resettlement agency.

Because of St. John’s United’s connection to the Lutheran 38

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Immigration and Refugee Service, a champion for refugees and migrants from around the globe, Rachel says, “There is a very deliberate conversation happening right now to see how St. Johns United can be a piece of the puzzle that maybe houses and manages the process here.”

If you ask Nancy what prompted her to study disaster and humanitarian leadership, she’ll tell you about the dream she had for her and her husband to deploy to humanitarian crises after he retires in a few years. With her background and his handy skills, she felt they could do their small part to respond to global needs.

Now, she knows she doesn’t have to leave Montana to make an impact. Rather than going off to countries far and wide, she has faith that she’ll be able to keep building something beautiful right here at home.

“I am willing,” Nancy says, “because I really hope that Billings can continue its warm embrace, its warm welcome to these lovely people.” ✻

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ome6 H THE LONG JOURNEY

A MESSAGING APP, A DEAR FRIEND & HER FAITH HELPED YULIYA JOHNSON UNITE WITH HER UKRAINIAN MOTHER written by JULIE KOERBER photography by CASEY PAGE

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WHEN RUSSIA UNLEASHED its soldiers on the eastern

you think I will see my mom again?’ I said, ‘Yes, you will! Your mom and my mom will sit right here at my dinner table eating dumplings.’ I was trying to encourage her,” Oxana says.

“None of us thought that the Russians would actually attack,” she says. “It was out of nowhere. We knew they had troops by the border, but I didn’t think they would attack.”Oxana moved to the United States in 2014 after an earlier Russian invasion of her home country.

“My mom, many times when we finished our phone calls, she would say, ‘Remember I love you no matter what happens, remember I love you,’” Yuliya says. More than once, their conversations were cut short by the sound of bombs and air raid sirens. Her mom once told her, “You know that you will have one more angel in the sky.”

edge of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Billings resident Oxana Gamba sat in disbelief.

Oxana worried about her mother, who still lives in Ukraine, and about the mother of her dear friend, Yuliya Johnson. It was priority number one for her to help get both to safety.

Oxana and Yuliya became fast friends in Billings a few years back.

Oxana laughs as she looks at her friend and says, “We’re drinking buddies,” adding that they met in the most unlikely of ways.

“Ukrainian women overdress for everything,” she says adding a bit tongue in cheek that you might see a Ukrainian woman in fur and diamonds taking out the trash. When Oxana saw Yuliya at a Billings Walmart dressed to the nines, Oxana says with a laugh, “I knew she was my people.”

They’ve been tight friends ever since.

On March 8, when the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy was being lit up by Russian bombs and gunfire, Oxana knew that Yuliya’s mom, Marina Petrusenko, was in the heart of it all.

“Yulia was devastated. She kept asking me the same question, ‘Do

Oxana, using the Telegraph app, signed up for news alerts from every humanitarian group she could find. She stayed glued to her phone looking for information on open humanitarian corridors.

When it was 8 p.m. in Billings, dawn was just starting to break in Ukraine.

“People would just start texting me,” Oxana says. Using the alerts from humanitarian groups, she would connect people on the run with those in nearby towns offering shelter. Many nights, she didn’t sleep. She’d start her workday at 6 a.m. as a draftsman at A Line Drafting and Design, only to do it all over again the next night. She has no idea how many Ukrainians she’s helped so far.

On March 9, just after midnight in Billings, Oxana finally found a humanitarian corridor Marina could slip through.

“Yuliya and Oxana kept telling me, ‘Mom you have to leave, you have to go,’ but I couldn’t make the decision,” Marina says, adding that one of her former students knocked on her door and made the decision for her. “Olga, she just came to the house and told MAY/JUNE 2022

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Oxana

Yuliya I BELIEVE I WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO GO BACK TO...

UKRAINIANS ARE VERY TOUGH. THEY CAN’T DESTROY US. — Marina Petrusenko

me, ‘You have 20 minutes to get ready and if you will not go, I will just grab you and drag you into the car.’ I didn’t take any jewelry or any possessions. I just took the dog and some clothes. I left everything. I just left.”

Marina

When Oxana found out Marina, Olga and Marina’s dog Savva were on the move, she says, “I told her, ‘When you leave, you tell me what your next stop is, which town you are going to and I will find you shelter in that town.’”

cell phone died, cutting off access to her mom. Yuliya ended up borrowing a phone to let her mom know she arrived and was standing right outside the shelter where Marina was staying.

When a town didn’t show up on a map, Oxana got creative.

“She started to cry and I started to cry,” Yuliya says. “We didn’t believe this was really happening.”

“I went on Facebook and found a phone number for the administrative building of that town,” Oxana says. “I don’t even know how that happened, but they called the mayor and found her shelter. We had a lot of stories like that.”

It was a harrowing 800-mile, six-day journey for Marina to get safely from Sumy, Ukraine, to the small town of Vysoké Tatry in eastern Slovakia. At that point, Yuliya had the green light to fly overseas to help get her mom back to the States.

“I booked a ticket at the last minute because we didn’t know what border she would be able to get to,” Yuliya says. She ended up flying into Prague, Czech Republic, then, since trains are free in Europe to Ukrainians, she used her Ukrainian passport to travel a few hundred miles to Slovakia. Somewhere on the journey, her 42

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Yuliya went through three countries to get to her mom. Once there, she’d run between Bratislava, Slovakia, to Vienna, Austria, trying to get the paperwork to bring her mom home. Because she wasn’t familiar with the public transportation routes, she’d often just walk, logging more than 70 miles in a matter of days.

From there, they took a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, and another from Istanbul to Chicago. Yuliya’s boyfriend, Kom, drove 20 hours straight to be there waiting for them.

“I was ready to kiss the doors of the Chicago airport,” Yuliya says with a laugh.

In early April, as Marina sits at Oxana’s dining room table, you can see a woman worn around the edges. Her peaceful demeanor

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dog Savva sat by her side. During the day, she’d take her dog out for a walk, many times stepping around bodies left in the streets.

“Those boys, they were not ready. They had no special training, but they would walk toward the tanks to protect our city,” Marina says. “Russians, they saw these boys coming toward them with bare hands, but they would still fire at them.”

Marina is hopeful that when the war ends, she’ll be able to return to Sumy.

“I believe I will have something to go back to,” Marina says. “I believe in those kids. I believe in those boys that they will protect. Ukrainians are very tough.

They can’t destroy us.”

doesn’t match the stories of war she shares.

Yuliya’s father, Igor Petrusenko, a 57-year-old colonel in the Ukrainian Army, is also actively fighting in the war. Yuliya and her mom try to call and check on him daily.

“I saw how my students were dying, young boys. They were just 22 years old,” Marina says. Before the war, Marina was a psychologist for students at Sumy Agrarian University.

“His specialization is artillery and tanks,” Yuliya says. “He is helping right now to relocate the Russian tanks captured by the Ukrainian military.” She adds, “He refuses to leave and wants to help his country.”

The town of Sumy used to be a military base. It’s still home to a military college, which made her neighborhood a Russian target.

Bombs blew out her windows. In the midst of it all, her cherished

On a Saturday in April, just as Oxana promised, she, Yuliya and Marina take turns stirring a pot on the stove cooking up some of the dumplings Oxana’s mother made during a recent visit.

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Sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower, sit in a vase at the center of her dining room table. There’s just one person missing — Oxana’s mom, Iryna. She was on her way out of the country when she fell and severely broke her leg.

“She can’t travel. It’s a complete mess,” Oxana says.

“She was on the road and couldn’t get appropriate help. She already had two surgeries and they are just trying to restore the bone.” She flips through photos on her phone showing her mom’s leg with multiple pins holding the bone in place. Iryna is healing at the hospital in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine. Oxana hopes she can safely stay there until she’s strong enough to travel.

“Everything is in God’s hands,” Oxana says of her mom’s safety. “I just pray. That’s all I have. Prayer is a powerful weapon.”

As the three enjoy their long-awaited meal together, Oxana says the fact that Yuliya and Marina were reunited was nothing short of a miracle.

“The odds for Yuliya to get there were really low,” Oxana says. “The odds for them to get back? Even lower. Everything together was absolutely mission impossible. Every step along the way, it was just God directing us.” ✻

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‘We can’t go back’ EASTERN EUROPEAN WOMEN PURSUE THE AMERICAN DREAM written by JACI WEBB photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE UNITED NATIONS

of Billings. This group of women all born in Eastern European countries have spent nearly two decades celebrating their culture together in Akvilina Rieger’s home on Billings’ West End. Although some of these women are eight time zones apart from their homeland, they cherish their happy lives in America.

Rieger says she experiences freedom here that she never could have imagined back home in Lithuania.

“A lot of people here don’t believe in the American Dream, but there are still people getting on boats trying to get here,” Rieger says. “There aren’t Russian dreams, there aren’t Swedish dreams, there is only the American Dream.”

As these women watch, along with the rest of the world, as Russian forces invade Ukraine, it sparks memories of war in their own countries. Rieger was 12 years old in 1990 when Lithuania fought for its independence. She remembers tanks rolling down the streets near her home.

“The war ages you,” she says. “I was thinking back, and I thought I was 18 at the time, but I was only 12.”

At a March gathering, vases in Rieger’s kitchen brim with brightyellow daffodils, a symbol of peace and hope for Ukraine. Their

cheery color and summery scent bring to mind the mothers and grandmothers back home in Eastern Europe. Nearby, a large pot overflows with wheat stalks, paying homage to Ukraine’s agricultural communities and the country’s appellation, “the world’s breadbasket.”

The counters are covered with cream-filled pastries including Reiger’s favorite — the chocolate tinginys. The name translates to lazy person since they are easy to make. Sorrel soup is also on the menu. It’s a recipe Rieger brought to the U.S. 24 years ago when she came to study international business at Montana State University. That’s where she met her husband, Paul, a fellow student at MSU. Yearning to speak her native language and to find others to share in celebrations from her home country, Rieger used social media and community groups to try to find other women from Eastern Europe. Two of her most recent finds were women from Turkey and Lithuania.

“It took 20 years to find her,” jokes Rieger as she introduces Raminta Zdaneviciute, who worked as a translator in Lithuania and speaks flawless English without an accent. She met her American husband in Lithuania. The two later moved to the U.S., settling first in California and now Montana, where she says it “feels like home.”

PICTURED ABOVE: KATY THOMAS, RENATA HAIDLE, ANDREA HORRELL, NATALIA BOESCHEN, AKVILINA RIEGER, GENCAY GENC, MASHAELA MACKENZIE, OLENA HENLEY, YULIA PAVLOVA, CLEMENTINE LINDLEY AND RAMINTA ALVAREZ. 46

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“It means the world to me being here because I’m so far away from my family and friends,” Zdaneviciute says of this group of women. “Food is a big part of any culture, but when we all come together like this, we enjoy our food and our laughs. We get loud.”

Gencay Genc moved to Billings from New York City, where she lived for five years after leaving her hometown of Istanbul, Turkey. She enjoys these gatherings because she says they feel like a celebration, which she adds is rare in her native land.

AKVILINA RIEGER HUGS

CLEMENTINE LINDLEY

“A lot of our religious holidays were forbidden so we would celebrate other holidays, like New Year’s Eve,” Genc says.

Genc described culture as a social heritage.

She’s grateful to have met other women from her part of the world because they share a common background. She says immigrants can feel isolated here, especially when they don’t see others like them. The group’s members often help each other laugh off misunderstandings and put things in perspective.

Genc says she became upset the other day in a grocery store when a woman said, “excuse me” to her. She was worried she’s committed some slight against the woman, and finally began to realize the woman simply wanted to get to a shelf and was excusing herself for getting in Genc’s way.

Rieger says she’s had tearful phone calls from her circle of friends who were offended by a comment at their workplace or who can’t figure something out. “It’s everything from what dentist to go to to how to get gas,” Rieger says.

There are a couple of American women in the group who enjoy the diversity and MAY/JUNE 2022

47

FOOD IS A BIG PART OF ANY CULTURE, BUT WHEN WE ALL COME TOGETHER LIKE THIS, WE ENJOY OUR FOOD AND OUR LAUGHS. WE GET LOUD.

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2022-2023 BILLINGS SYMPHONY SEASON

— Raminta Zdaneviciute

CLASSIC SERIES

American Kaleidoscope featuring Kevin Cole, piano. Sept. 24 Fire & Ice featuring Chee-Yun, violin.

Oct. 15

Imani Winds: A Woman’s Perspective.

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American Veteran: A Story Without Words featuring Tage Larsen, trumpet and Katharina Wincor, guest conductor. Nov. 12

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The Spirit Awakens featuring Wei Luo, piano. Feb. 11, 2023

Adventures in Music featuring The Science of Sound. Sept. 17

South Pacific in Concert. March 10, 2023

Billings Youth Orchestra Fall Concert.

Dec. 4

Celestial Grandeur. April 22, 2023

M is for Music. Jan. 14, 2023

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Billings Youth Orchestra Spring Concert. April 30, 2023

Rocky Mountain Jazz Collective: The Music of Henri Mancini. Sept. 10

Symphony in the Park. June 25, 2023

Welcome to Indian Country. Aug. 13

Mackenzie Melemed: Rachmaninoff at Carnegie. Dec. 1 Albion Quartet. Feb. 23, 2023 Wyoming Baroque: Heroes and Heroines. March 30, 2023

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Whiskey and Wine. Sept. 15 Wine Down with the Symphony.

Jan. 20, 2023 Billings Symphony Bash. April 1, 2023

opportunity to learn about other cultures.

Clementine Lindley lived in Ireland for a number of years and now that she’s back in the U.S., she misses interacting with people from other cultures.

“Everyone needs a community. If you can find a community of people who care about you no matter your politics or your skin color, you are set,” Lindley says.

For Natalia Boeschen, who is from Tirapol, Moldova, the group feels a little like home.

She grew up in the region of Transnistria, which was home to a melting pot of cultures.

“For centuries, there has been close and mutual ethnocultural influence of Moldovans, Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Gagauz, Armenians and other nationalities in the region. Representatives of more than 35 nationalities coexist in the country,” she says. “Growing up in Tiraspol and spending summers in Odessa, Ukraine, with the extended family taught me to love, appreciate and celebrate every culture.”

The women came to the States for various reasons – jobs, husbands, school, or just curiosity. Boeschen came to the U.S. 19 years ago, yet she still yearns for her homeland, especially as the violence escalates in Ukraine.

“How can we help? Right now, we need to stop the war,” Boeschen says as she thinks about her loved ones who aren’t far from the fight. “My parents are right there on the border with Ukraine. I wish there would be peace.”

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As the gathering begins to wrap up, the women raise their glasses to toast each other. They hold up a Ukranian flag as a show of solidarity. It’s evident there’s a great deal of cultural pride within this group but also a deep appreciation for the life they lead here under the Big Sky. “The majority of us would say, ‘We can’t go back,’” Rieger says. “Ever since I came to Montana and to the Yellowstone Valley, people have been so good to me.” ✻

JACI WEBB, writer

Jaci has spent more than three decades working as a journalist for The Billings Gazette and most recently, The Laurel Outlook.

She serves as Student Publications Director at Rocky Mountain College. She and her husband Chris have two daughters and a grandson.

“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” ~ Dolly Parton

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Changing

FROM AN ABUSIVE ADOPTIVE HOME TO A STRONG MOM OF THREE, LILY GARDNER IS A SURVIVOR written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN 50

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WHEN LILY GARDNER came into the world 27 years ago, she was an underweight, premature baby suffering from drug withdrawals, thanks to her cocaine-addicted mother and the drugs she ingested while pregnant. A photo of Lily at 3 months old shows her big brown eyes and the long scar from the open-heart surgery she endured to repair her drugdamaged heart.

eyes and going to bed hungry many nights.

“It was rough,” Lily says.

Living with the family in both Montana and Wyoming, Lily watched as they fostered more than 30 kids. At one point there were 14 children in the home, many of them with special needs. Lily says she never went to school, forced instead to stay home to help care for the other children.

Within days of birth, she and her twin brother were put into foster care.

“I don’t remember anything about being in foster care as an infant, but what I do know is that the family my biological mother chose for my brother and me to live with would be the family that almost broke me,” Lily posted recently on her Facebook page, adding, “they also helped make me the strong person I am today.”

“I told myself that there was someone else who had it worse,” Lily says. “That’s literally how I survived my childhood. You hear those stories about kids who don’t survive.”

As the thinks back on the dark spots in her past, she’s still haunted by one incident involving her foster brother, Thomas. The 4-year-old was nonverbal.

As you talk with this now-married mother of three, she will tell you the system failed her. She says she escaped one world full of trauma to be adopted into another.

“I can remember as far back as 4 when the abuse started,” Lily says.

“He was sitting on the ground on his knees,” Lily begins. “My mom asked him to get up and finish his lunch and he refused. My mom went over and kicked him with such force that when he came down, he broke both his legs. He was crying.” Lily remembers thinking, “What did I just witness?” Her mom told social workers the boy fell off the trampoline, Lily says, and “to this day, I feel so guilty that I never told the truth.”

LILY AND HER BIOLO GI

Lily shares stories of having to wash dishes and make lunches before she even learned to write. If she didn’t comply, she faced verbal, emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her adoptive mother. She remembers the cold showers. She remembers being locked outside if she had an accident. She remembers the black

CAL MOTHER

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Over the years, a few angels entered Lily’s life. The first was a respite worker who came to the home two to three times a week to help care for the children.

“You could cut the tension in that home with a knife,” Shannon Madsen says today. When Shannon witnessed abuse, she remembers giving Lily some advice.

“I told her, ‘You just run. You run through those fields. Your mom isn’t going to chase you through those fields. Then, you call me,’” Shannon says.

One afternoon, Lily did call. Shannon was at the dentist with her kids at the time. She remembers leaving her children and jumping in the car.

“By the time I got there, they had already picked her up. I passed her in the cop car on the road,” Shannon says. “Once her mom found out that I knew, she got me fired. The system failed all those kids. I do remember telling Lily’s mom, ‘I am not keeping your dirty little secret.’”

“My mom and a police officer found me at a neighbor’s home a mile away,” Lily says. “He arrested me, shackled me and took me to a group home.” She was charged with being a runaway. What was supposed to be a 24-hour crisis placement turned into 10 months at the home.

After 10 months, social workers added Lily’s name to a list of children available to foster. Sherriff ‘s Deputy Clay Myers knew Lily. He’d responded to her home quite a few times over the years.

“It just felt right for her to be with our family,” says Stephanie Myers, Clay’s wife.

Lily calls the Myers family her angels.

“I wasn’t with them long, but I was with them long enough to be loved,” Lily says.

“She’s overcome by leaps and bounds,” Stephanie says. “She went through a lot. She could have let it define her and become another statistic. She’s moving mountains and doing amazing things.”

According to national statistics, 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the cycle.

“Motherhood saved my life,” Lily says. “As a mom, it’s so important to me to make sure my kids grow up and don’t have to look back like I did and wish their childhood was different. My job is to make them great human beings.”

“I saw a boy punch a window and then use the glass to slit his wrists,” Lily says, and she saw another girl sniff Comet to try to overdose. “It was such a horrible experience.”

Since her teen years, Lily has continued to battle adversity. She dealt with abusive relationships, became a young mother and tried to keep her head above water.

There was just one silver lining, she says.

“There were times I thought I was not going to make it,” Lily says, “but I’m here. I’m here to tell my story.”

“I was a ward of the state and then the best thing happened to me. I was court ordered to go to school. Do you know how silly it is to say that I was court ordered to go to school? I loved it. It was hard for me. I was testing at second- and third-grade levels at 15 years old.” She says her teachers welcomed her with open arms.

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In front of a group of women last March, Lily walked to the podium at the women’s enrichment event and began sharing stories of the trials she’s endured. She didn’t prepare notes. She just talked from the heart, hoping different pieces of her story would inspire different women in the crowd.

“MOTHERHOOD SAVED MY LIFE. AS A MOM, IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO ME TO MAKE SURE MY KIDS GROW UP AND DON’T HAVE TO LOOK BACK LIKE I DID AND WISH THEIR CHILDHOOD WAS DIFFERENT. MY JOB IS TO MAKE THEM GREAT HUMAN BEINGS. — Lily Gardner

“You don’t really know what people are going through,” she says.

Today, Lily helps her husband, Cody, run a trucking business. She also works full time helping car dealerships across the U.S. install software to sell vehicles online. She knows having a successful career and raising a loving family is not the norm for women who’ve endured what she has.

While she still talks to her adoptive father, her adoptive mother died 10 years ago from ovarian cancer. Facebook helped Lily connect with her biological father and siblings.

“I talk to my biological dad nearly every day,” Lily says, admitting that they’re working on their relationship.

4-year-old and an 8-year-old, a floral tattoo peeks out behind a cut-out of her shirt. She shares that the ink is a jasmine flower intertwined with a lily. Her name at birth was Jasmine.

Lily says one day she’ll sit down and write about her life. “The title of it is ‘Changing Flowers,’” she says. “I changed flowers and I am still blooming, still growing.” ✻

Editor’s Note:

Because Lily’s adoptive parents were never charged with any crime, we have withheld their names from this story.

As she chats about what its like mothering a 14-month-old, a

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38 38 Septembers Septembers AFTER MANY MISSED BIRTHDAYS, BILLINGS MAN DIGS FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS BIOLOGICAL MOM written by LAURA BAILEY photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

IT WAS THE SPRING OF 1969. Robert had to be a little

surprised to hear from Margie, and then to hear her ask him to meet her down at the river. Robert was a friend of Margie’s husband, an Army buddy, and the two men had served together in Vietnam. Aside from that, Margie and Robert only had one other connection — a regrettable one-night romantic encounter two years earlier while Margie’s husband was stationed overseas.

Standing near the riverbanks, Margie told Robert they’d conceived a son and she had placed him up for adoption the day he was born. She knew Robert had a right to know, but also knew the revelation had the potential to tear apart her marriage and destroy her family.

“This is the last time we’ll ever talk again,” she said to him. “We’re taking this to the grave.”

Many miles away, Jerry and Connie Hutch arrived in Helena, Montana, with their moving van and their baby boy, Eric, whom they’d adopted while living in Pittsburgh.

They had wanted to move west sooner but had to wait until the adoption was finalized. It was a long year and a half as Jerry and Connie worried that Eric’s birth mother would change her mind and come for their child. A fresh start was just what the little family needed.

Growing up, Eric always knew he was adopted, it just wasn’t discussed much. He grew up, met and married his high school sweetheart, Shari, and the two started their own family.

Just before the birth of their fourth son, Shari went to Connie and asked a few questions about Eric’s adoption. Connie told Shari what she knew. Eric’s biological mother was a schoolteacher with two children. She had an affair, and to save her marriage, she gave the baby, Eric, up for adoption. The straightforward explanation was enough, or so Eric thought.

Since 1996, Eric has been in full time Christian ministry. While

serving as a youth pastor at an Assembly of God church in Helena, he vividly remembered one of the Bible verses shared at a youth Bible camp. It was Isiah, chapter 49, verse 15. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?”

“It popped into my head, she’s never forgotten me,” Eric says.

“I heard a still small voice say, ‘You need to find her and connect.’”

In the fall of 2002, even though his adoption was private and closed, Eric petitioned the Orphans Court of Pennsylvania for information. It was a long shot, but almost a year later he received a response.

In a letter from one of the court’s caseworkers, he learned of his Welsh, Hungarian ancestry. The letter also revealed how he was conceived and why his mom chose to give him up for adoption.

“She was dismayed and felt like she had made a grievous mistake, which could result in the destruction of her family,” the letter said. “She was determined to place the baby for adoption without her husband knowing.”

Eric ended up calling the caseworker, whose name was at the bottom of the letter.

“I just remember her informing me that if I was ever to reach out to her it would compromise the family,” Eric says. The caseworker told him, “I recommend you stop your search.”

While the letter seemed like a dead end, Eric joined online adoption support groups and pursued other avenues that might reveal a connection. He couldn’t stop searching.

Two years later, in 2004, Eric’s phone rang and the anonymous caller on the other end said, “Please get a pen and paper, I have something important to share with you.” Eric scribbled down not only his mother’s first and last name but his own legal name, Jonathon Lawrence, given to him by his birth mother on Sept. 27, 1967, the day he was born.

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IT POPPED INTO MY HEAD, SHE’S NEVER FORGOTTEN ME. I HEARD A STILL SMALL VOICE SAY, ‘YOU NEED TO FIND HER AND CONNECT.’ — Eric Hutch

“Still to this day I have no idea who they are and no idea how they would know my case or my story,” Eric says.

What struck Eric to his core was the fact that his mother knew from the moment she discovered she was pregnant that she would be giving the infant up for adoption. And yet, he says, “My birth mother gave me a name.”

Days faded into weeks, and weeks faded into months. Eric never got a response. All those wild emotions rushed back in. He lost hope. Other than with his wife, his parents and a few close friends, Eric didn’t share his journey openly. One couple, however, invited Eric and his wife to lunch. At the end of the meal, they told him, “We’ve been praying for you and we think you should reach out to her again.”

With her name in hand, Eric was able to locate his mom within weeks. She’d never left Pennsylvania. Bit by bit he discovered she had been a business owner, maintained an occasional blog, was now retired, still married, and an active volunteer in the community. He also found a photo.

Despite the fear of rejection and feeling of abandonment, Eric tried again.

“I’ll never forget the first time it popped up on my computer monitor,” he says. “All I could think was, I see you. I can see you.”

He adds, “I kept learning more and more about this family that I was a part of but not a part of.”

Within days, his birth mother responded, admitting she’d overlooked the first email.

A wild range of emotions started to bubble up — wonder, rejection, hope, loss, abandonment, fear. He also felt a strong need for closure. In October of 2005, he emailed his birth mother through her business. The subject line read: Personal Request.

“I have been encouraged by my family and friends to contact you regarding information you may have about my life history, specifically, my birth mother. I am interested in sharing personal history with you in hope that you would have the ability to forward this to her. I desire to take great caution to ensure that information I share with you will in no way jeopardize her relationships with family or friends,” Eric wrote.

“I wanted her to know that I wasn’t interested in exposing her, that her secret was safe with me, and that her secret was one I understood,” Eric says.

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“I sent a carbon copy of the prior email and said at the end, ‘Please let me know how I may contact you,’” Eric says.

In his follow-up email, he shared his life story, his early days in Helena, his marriage to his high school sweetheart, their four boys and his dedication to Christian ministry. He remembers typing, “Please pass this along to my mother as I believe you know her intimately.” Eric knew his birth mother would be the only one to read his email.

“I tried to imagine the feeling that it must have been like for her on the other end of that email. I wanted it to be love,” Eric says. “I was that little boy she’d carried for nine months, now making an impact on the world. I imagined the closure and the comfort, joy and peace she would experience to know that I’m okay.”

Her response was brief. The note read: “Here’s my phone number, please call.”

When Eric called and said, “Hi, Mom,” Margie responded, “I always knew you’d find me.”

Margie did most of the talking during the hour and a half long conversation. After listening, Eric expressed his forgiveness and gratitude that she decided to place him up for adoption.

“You don’t know the gift you gave me,” Eric told her.

After a few phone calls back and forth, Eric was surprised when his mother suggested meeting in Pittsburgh that November.

Eric and Shari met Margie at her hotel and the minute she opened her hotel room door, they were overcome with joy and embraced immediately. It was the reunion Eric had wanted for years. As they got to know one another, Eric held her hand – the one that looked so much like his.

“I thought of you every September,” she told him.

They talked for almost three hours when Margie’s cell phone interrupted their conversation. On the other end of the line was Robert, Eric’s birth father. He was in the lobby. Margie hadn’t seen him or spoken to him since that day on the river. She invited him to meet Eric. Within minutes, he was standing in the doorway.

“He stands there and looks at me, slowly taking me all in,” Eric says. “Then he shakes my hand.”

Robert gave his son a pocketknife, and four arrowheads he’d collected – one for each of his sons. He gave a bracelet to Shari.

“It was electric,” Eric says. “It was like I’ve known you all my life, but I haven’t known you.”

Since then, Robert has wholeheartedly embraced his relationship with his son. Eric has met his two half brothers and keeps in touch. Robert attended the wedding of Eric’s son several years ago. He’s suffering from the early stages of dementia now but still calls every now and then to check in.

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True to her word, Margie has kept her secret well hidden. Eric and his birth mother talk once in a while and met again in-person in 2012. At the end of their time together, they said their goodbyes and Margie said, “Now, I have to leave this life and go back to my other life.”

Hello Spring!

“My heart sank,” Eric says, remembering her words. “I knew then that I would likely never have the experience of being integrated into her world.” Even still, he says, “Stewarding her story is to recognize that it’s my mother’s sacred space. It gives me a greater appreciation of the struggle she had to experience.”

In time, Eric learned how his mom managed to hold her story together. She revealed that as soon as she found out she was pregnant, she arranged a whirlwind trip to meet with her husband in Hawaii. Weeks later, she told everyone she became pregnant on that trip. When the baby came — too early she would say — she never claimed the baby died but instead said “he was never meant to be ours.” Margie says she enlisted the help of a priest, her doctor and, of course, the lawyer who facilitated the adoption.

All kept her secret.

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Today, as a pastor, Eric has encountered many who were adopted and are still seeking answers. He knows his experience can help others find peace.

“I want to encourage others to take risks with their own stories,” Eric says, “and to prepare for both the good and the bad that will emerge in their own journey.” ✻

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57

Meet Meet

Kenny Kenny TEEN ABOUT TO AGE OUT OF FOSTER CARE ISN’T GIVING UP HOPE FOR A FAMILY

written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

WHEN WE FIRST MET KENNY IN 2014, he was

a 14-year-old kid who loved Legos, Star Wars movies and making people laugh. Today, at 17, he’s a quieter version of that young man. He’s reminded that in less than a year, he might age out of the foster care system without ever having fulfilled his dream of having a family to call his own.

“He was removed from his biological family when he was 2,” says Dawn Bushard, his social worker. “He had a twin brother that his father killed. His mom was charged with part of that too.”

Social workers found Kenny a loving adoptive home, but sadly, Bushard says, it wasn’t long before he suffered loss again. At around age 5, one adoptive parent died in a car accident, not long after the other succumbed to cancer. He eventually went to live with a relative of his adoptive parents, but when he turned 14, they went to a district judge and relinquished him to the state’s care.

“I think a lot of people are scared of his wheelchair and his disability, but he’s independent,” Bushard says.

If you ask Kenny about his future, he doesn’t talk about group homes or his limitations. Instead, he’ll tell you about his love of history.

“I would like to be a history teacher, a historian or maybe someone who worked in a museum,” he says. And while he was quite the movie buff last time we visited with him, “I’m more of a gamer now,” he says with a smile.

He loves old Star Wars games or the game Assassin’s Creed.

Kenny says he loves that game since it puts you in a fight for freedom at pivotal moments in history.

“He really wants to belong to a family,” Bushard says. “He’s been abandoned so much between the biological family, his adoptive family, his guardians. He’s been trying to figure out a way to do this all on his own.”

“The whole premise is events through history – the pirate era, the French Revolution, there is one in the Civil War, there’s one in the old dynasty in China, the Cold War,” Kenny says. “I love the history aspect of it.

He will need help to “do this on his own.” Kenny was born

“He’s really smart, especially with his gaming,” Bushard says.

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with cerebral palsy and gets around with the help of a wheelchair.

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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KENNY OR THE FOSTER-ADOPTIVE SYSTEM IN GENERAL, CALL DANIELLE METCALF AT 406-657-3120.

While Kenny needs an adoptive home, many times the primary goal for children in the system is to have a temporary placement while social workers strive to reunify them with their biological family. Each family wanting to become a licensed foster-adoptive home must undergo 18 hours of mandatory training to learn what it takes to become a successful foster family.

“He’s very competitive.”

Bushard, who has known Kenny for about a year and a half, feels for this teen with an uncertain future.

“He wants to belong to someone just like every other person in the world,” she says.

If you ask Kenny what he dreams about in a family, he says it’s pretty simple.

Grab some tomorrow and make your day before it even starts.

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“I just want acceptance. I just want a family,” Kenny says. “Will someone please step up, save me from my humdrum life and step up?” ✻

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celebrating7

50 Years years 50 Years THE WOMEN BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY HEAD START written by CYDNEY HOEFLE photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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julie THE HALLWAYS

of the Head Start building, which sits across the street North Park, echo with the sounds of children’s laughter. Apprehension in the first few days of school has given way to excitement as the students acclimated over the school year. As each family arrives, children release the hand of the one that brought them and race to the smiling faces and encouraging words of the teachers and staff. It’s easy to see that children and teachers alike are excited to get their day going.

For 50 years, the Head Start Program in Billings has provided education, health, nutrition, social and other services for low-income children in Yellowstone County. The mission here is simple — to enhance the social and cognitive development of 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds.

“Our goal at Head Start is to get children school ready,” says Janice King, executive director of Head Start.

“We want to be a positive influence in the trajectory of a child’s education.”

selena and annette

amanda

Across town at the Terry Park location, teacher Annette Kuzma’s colorful classroom is filled with countless ways to capture a child’s curiosity. Walls are covered with bright letters, numbers and pictures. Tables are piled with wooden blocks, puzzles and books. In a corner is a cozy chair and a soft blanket on top of a welcoming floor rug.

“When I started with Head Start, it was back before cell phones and computers,” she says, reminiscing over her 31-year career. “We wrote everything by hand.”

OUR GOAL AT HEAD START IS TO GET CHILDREN SCHOOL READY. WE WANT TO BE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE IN THE TRAJECTORY OF A CHILD’S EDUCATION.

Janice oversees a staff of 105 who help educate 360 children at four locations throughout Billings. She’s been with the Head Start program for 17 years, and executive director for two. Through it all, she keeps tabs on an annual federally funded budget of close to $5 million and in-kind donations of almost $1 million.

— Janice King

“We have a lot going on all the time,” Janice says. “I’m very proud of the staff we have and the role we’ve played in the lives of our students and their families.”

Since Yellowstone County’s Head Start began in 1972, Janice estimates that around 15,000 children have taken part in the program. Many of the staff have been with Head Start for years, some for decades.

Today, communication with the parents is largely by text and email. “I remember visiting with parents about how to teach their children in their homes,” she says.

“You can make a lesson out of about anything. I’d make suggestions about the things in their home that they could incorporate into a learning experience.

Measuring cups for counting, pots and pans for making music, studying colors and textures — there’s so much at hand.”

Annette still believes in using just about anything to teach her students and her room shows it. Tucked into cubbyholes are markers and crayons, but also cast-away tiles and blocks that were headed for the garbage before she snatched them up.

“I have struggling students and sometimes I have to really think out of the box to get them to understand,” Annette says. “They get enough of the ‘You can’t do that,’ so I concentrate on what they can do. It’s physically hard at times and the days are long, but when one of the kids finally ‘gets it,’ well, that’s what I love and why I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Serena Henson-Ramos is a family advocate for Head Start at the Terry Park location, and in that capacity, she’s a liaison between MAY/JUNE 2022

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IT’S AWESOME TO SEE STRUGGLING PARENTS GROW AND TAKE THE STEPS AND THE INITIATIVE TO ADVOCATE FOR THEIR KIDS. THAT’S WHAT MAKES ME APPRECIATE MY JOB.

julie and janice

Serena has been with Head Start only a short time. She has — Serena Henson-Ramos a bachelor’s degree in human services and an associate degree in rehabilitations and related services.

She’s starting her master’s degree this summer to continue her education to become a counselor. Her education started as a Head Start student more than 20 years ago.

“Mom was a teenage mother,” Serena says. “I was in Head Start as a 4-year-old.”

Smiling, Annette chimed in, “And I was her teacher!”

families and services. She keeps abreast of things going on in the community from which parents might benefit and makes sure that the families are in the know.

Though neither woman remembers too much of the specifics of that year, Serena says it enabled her mother to continue with school. She finished high school and eventually went on to college to receive her degree.

“I act as a case manager for the families,” she says. “I do everything from greeting in the morning to assessments to family support and searching for community programs.”

“Head Start helped Mom during a critical time in her life and as a mother,” Serena says. “The hardest part of my job is watching people who need the help but don’t get it. We can only do so much

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and to watch the potential of someone not be met is very difficult.”

Still, both women agree, the positive stories far outweigh the negative ones.

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“It’s awesome to see struggling parents grow and take the steps and the initiative to advocate for their kids,” Serena says.

“That’s what makes me appreciate my job.”

Back at the North Park location, Julie Carlos remembers in 1988 when she was working at a daycare close to the Head Start building on Sixth Avenue North. She would walk several of the daycare children to the building for them to attend class.

One day she arrived at work to closed doors. The daycare had shut down without warning.

“I was familiar enough with Head Start, I thought why not apply there?” Julie says.

She did apply and 33 years later, she’s still employed by Head Start and still at the North Park location.

“I started out as a bus aide,” she says, “Then I got my CDL and drove the bus. I also filled in for lunch help, in the classroom and the office.” Julie started working in the office in 2000. As a data specialist, it’s her job to keep records of each of the students.

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“Things have changed since I started that job,” Julie says. “We keep extensive files on every child, and it was all done by hand and filed. Tracking hundreds of students takes a lot of paperwork and a lot of filing.”

Today, all those files are computerized, making Julie’s job not only more efficient, but much easier.

Since her first days on the job, she’s watched hundreds of children come through the doors of Head Start.

“It’s so fun to see them in the mornings,” she says. “They love coming here, it’s a joy to me to see them and hear them. Every now and then I will see a former student at the grocery store, or out somewhere in public and it just warms my heart to have them come up and visit with me.”

Amanda Stonerock works part time for Head Start as the director of donor advising and she remembers attending Head Start as a young child growing up in Butte. She believes it helped prepare her for school and so strongly believes in the program that she is passionate about helping them with fundraising and grant writing.

In fact, shortly after Amanda began working with Head Start last fall, she was

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in a’s hrg

se er als a. al ng

Beauty & the Bea st Billings Studio Theatre presents “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Junior,” January 10th-13th. Brainy and beautiful Belle yearns to escape her narrow and restricted life including her brute of a suitor, Gaston.

Belle gets adventurous and as a result becomes a captive in the Beast’s enchanted castle! Dancing flatware, menacing wolves and singing furniture fill the stage with thrills during this beloved fairy tale about very different people finding strength in one another as they learn how to love.b i l l i n g s s tu d i o th e a t r e .c o m

FRinge FestivaL Venture Theatre presents its Fringe Festival, January 18th-19th and 25th-26th.The festival features four nights of shows featuring local and regional performing artists of all types including dance, standup comedy, theater improv, one act plays, musicals, performance art, spoken word/poetry, and puppetry.v e n t u r e t h e a t r e .o r g

souL s tReet d anCe Thistohigh comes to the Alberta Bair 200 Theater on January able helpenergy them show secure a grant that provided electronic tablets for the children.

Sheera also 22 months of 19th and presents a new in helped dance, line whileuppushing the artistic free wi-fi service, screen protectors and concerts cases forconsist each tablet. boundaries of street dance.

Soul Street of a mix of movement that will keep you at the edge of your seat. The music is

“The tablets are exciting,” Amanda says. “They’re just another combined with an electric mix ranging from hip-hop to classical. step toward getting them ready for school.”

It’s a show that will make you laugh and keep audiences of all ages

entertained.

While Amanda is helping dream up ways to celebrate Yellowstone County Head Start’s 50 years, she says she never loses her focus on helping to provide the best for kids in need a ConC eRt FoR the w hoLe FamiLy here in our community.

help2

celebrate6 HEAD START • 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION •

Billings Symphony presents its Family Concert on January 26th at the “These going Four to be time our future,” says.

“We’re Albertakids Bairare Theater.

GrammyAmanda nominees, “Trout Fishing trying to do what we can to ensure that they have every in America,” will perform along with the Billings Symphony. Trout advantage.” ✻ Fishing in America is a musical duo which performs folk rock and children’s music. b i l l i n g s s y m p h o n y.c o m

The 50th anniversary celebration will be held Friday, May 20, at Zoo Montana from 4 to 8 p.m. The family event will include food trucks, inflatables, kid’s games and live music, along with several featured speakers and presentations. Open to the public, the event is free for Head Start staff and current Head Start families.

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From Prenatal to Pediatrics

At RiverStone Health Clinic, we believe healthcare is a lifelong commitment. From prenatal to older adult care and everything in between, we are with our patients every step of the way. Our provider team tailors care to meet your needs, and our sliding fee scale ensures our services are accessible to everybody. Through all of life's moments, big and small, we are here for you.

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Shame

GETTING RID of the2

FITNESS INSTRUCTOR SHARES HER STORY OF STRESS INCONTINENCE TO HELP OTHER WOMEN written by JULIE LOVELL photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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WHETHER SHE’S

teaching fitness classes, caring for her family or directing several guest services departments at Billings Clinic, Stacey Booth is always on the move. But for many years, a medical condition called stress urinary incontinence slowed her down. The problem started in 2005, after she gave birth to her daughter.

“It was what I would consider pretty minor at first, but after I had my son in 2008, it got worse because I became more active,” says Stacey. “I started doing agility races and teaching at the Y. That’s when I started to notice how extreme my situation was.”

Stress incontinence happens when pressure increases on a woman’s bladder and causes urine to leak. All sorts of things can cause that pressure, including laughing, coughing, sneezing, running, jumping and lifting heavy objects. When pelvic floor muscles weaken, the bladder can drop and stop the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the body, from closing completely. The causes are many — childbirth, menopause, even obesity.

Urogynecologist Dr. Craig Mayr of Billings Clinic says the good news is, the condition is quite common and very treatable.

“Probably 30 to 40 percent of women who have had a vaginal delivery will experience stress incontinence at some point in their lives and need to be treated for it,” Mayr says.

Many women, however, are too embarrassed about urine leakage to even talk about it, let alone seek help.

“It’s not pleasant,” Mayr says. “It’s not something you talk about over dinner: ‘Enjoy the ham. By the way I’m incontinent.’ Nobody says that.”

Stacey agrees. “I have a girl’s night out group, and we joke about it and everybody starts laughing, but at the same time it’s not something you really talk about.”

Too often, Mayr says, women with stress incontinence blame themselves. He says there’s no reason to be ashamed.

“This happens. It’s not their fault if they get diabetes,” Mayr says.

“It’s not their fault if they get cancer. It’s not their fault that they get stress incontinence. Why should it be any different?”

On top of the embarrassment, many women don’t seek treatment because they think this condition is just something that goes along with childbirth.

“Women who come to my office often say, ‘Well, I have normal leakage,’” Mayr says. “What is normal leakage? There’s no such thing as normal urinary incontinence. I think there’s a notion out there that women who’ve had pregnancies, term vaginal deliveries, you just accept that you have to leak when you laugh or cough or sneeze. They even joke, like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got to squeeze before I sneeze.’”

Stacey was one of those women. “Stress incontinence runs in my family,” she says. “I convinced myself that this was normal, and this was how it was going to be forever.”

But when her symptoms worsened after her second child was born, Stacey started looking for solutions. Many women get good results by doing exercises prescribed by a physical therapist specially trained to deal with pelvic floor disorders.

PROBABLY 30 TO 40 PERCENT OF WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD A VAGINAL DELIVERY WILL EXPERIENCE STRESS INCONTINENCE AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES AND NEED TO BE TREATED FOR IT. — Dr. Craig Mayr, Billings Clinic

“I was doing physical therapy regularly for almost two years and while it wasn’t unsuccessful, it wasn’t meeting the needs, the expectations I had,” she says. “I became very frustrated and started feeling very defeated, very ashamed.”

In March of 2017, an annual check-up with Physician’s Assistant Bridgett Eckley at Billings Clinic gave her Stacey hope.

“She said, ‘You know, that’s not normal,’” says Stacey. “She said, ‘We have a guy for that,’ and I said, ‘What? Sign me up.’”

Stacey then met with Dr. Mayr, who outlined potential treatment options for her, including an outpatient procedure called a midurethral sling. It’s a small mesh implant placed underneath the urethra to help it close and prevent urine leakage. A woman’s own body tissue can also be harvested to create a sling, but Mayr says a mesh implant works best.

“As far as procedural treatments, it’s our gold standard for treatment,” Mayr says. “It’s about a 10- to 15-minute procedure in the operating room under anesthesia. About 90 percent of patients who get a sling are happy with their results. Day to day, they’re not leaking, they don’t have to wear a pad, they can go work out without the nagging fear that they are going to have trouble. For some women, it kind of gives parts of their lives back to them.”

In some surgeries, the use of mesh is controversial because of the MAY/JUNE 2022

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“It was a preparation,” Stacey says. “It was like you’re planning to go on a trip where you have to pack.

I remember walking into a concert at the Metra one time and having that A small mesh implant placed moment of, ‘Oh my underneath the urethra to gosh, I forgot,’ and then help it close and prevent urine leakage. that fear of not being able to enjoy the concert because I couldn’t stand up like everybody else.”

• MID-URETHRAL SLING •

UROGYNECOLOGIST DR. CRAIG MAYR OF BILLINGS CLINIC

By that point, the frustration of dealing with stress incontinence had taken an emotional and financial toll. high risk of complications. Mayr says the American Gynecologic Society has determined the sling procedure doesn’t have a high mesh complication rate. He adds that 1 to 2 percent of women who get a sling may experience a complication, and certain factors that impair wound healing, including smoking and diabetes, can increase that risk.

“I was also spending an extreme amount of money on products to take care of myself. I didn’t buy anything other than black workout clothes. “

“I’m a 100 percent success rate for this procedure,” says Stacey.

“I had prepared myself for it not being perfect because I had been living with this for so long.” She says Mayr told her, “I can’t promise you perfection, but I can help you.”

“I haven’t thought about it in five years, and the fact that I don’t have to think about it, I’m like ‘Holy cow!’” says Stacey. “So, Bridget Eckley and Dr. Mayr changed my life.”

While the procedure lasted less than half an hour, Stacey had to follow four weeks of post-surgery requirements to ensure the best results. She avoided lifting more than five pounds, having intercourse, getting in a hot tub and getting constipated. She says she’s convinced the procedure worked so well because she followed through with the post-surgery protocol.

Before Stacey underwent the sling procedure, stress incontinence had a big impact on her everyday life. She often carried what she calls a “first aid kit,” filled with incontinence supplies.

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These days, Stacey wears workout clothes in every color and is relieved she no longer has to prep for incontinence problems.

Stacey hopes sharing her story will encourage more women to start talking about stress incontinence, stop feeling ashamed about having it, and seek treatment.

“I regret the shame I had for myself for something that was completely out of my control, for losing hope, because I’m really not that kind of girl,” says Stacey. “My biggest regret is not doing it sooner.” ✻

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GIVE A LITTLE

YVW’S HIT LIST FOR GIFTS

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WHAT DO YOU DO FOR THE MOM WHO HAS EVERYTHING ON MOTHER’S DAY?

This year, share an experience - sign up for a cooking class at Zest together! All classes are kid-friendly, and have a hands-on element.

Upcoming classes in May and June include: Paella + Spanish Tapas, Classic Restaurant Desserts, and Cooking with Spices. Visit www. zestbillings.com for more information about upcoming classes! Price: $45-100.

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LOOKIN’ GOOD IN THE MOUNTAIN SUN!

UPF 50+ hats are now at Neecee’s. Look cute. Stay sun protected. Check ‘em out in their new space...1008 Shiloh Crossing Blvd. Where fun, friends and fashion collide! Follow them on Instagram @neecees_mt.

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PAMPER HER WITH FLOWERS

Send mom a beautiful hanging garden or patio planter from Gainan’s. Each one is planted with a unique selection of compatible annuals in mixed complementary colors. Starting at $69.99.

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A PERFECT PERFUME FOR EVERY MOOD

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STOP BY AL’S BOOTERY & REPAIR FOR GREAT MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS FOR MOM!

Tru Western signature fragrances infused with the character of the American west are available at Shipton’s Big R. There are many scents to choose from that mom will love. Fragrances priced from $30 to $40.

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Choose from a great selection of MyraBag purses, wine bags or beer caddies. Check out beautiful hand made jewelry from Cool Water of Montana and Girl Ran Away With the Spoon. Boots make a great gift as well, but if you can’t decide, purchase a gift card so she can shop for herself! Al’s Bootery & Repair, outfitting the West with the best since 1946! 1820 1st Ave. North in Billings.

6TREAT MOM TO THE PERFECT GETAWAY

Treat mom to a relaxing getaway to Red Lodge’s most famous historic hotel. Located in the heart of the downtown, The Pollard Hotel is the perfect place for mom to kick her feet up and enjoy a craft cocktail at Marli’s or use it as a base for all the activities Red Lodge has to offer. Visit ThePollardHotel.com to send a gift card.

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7TREAT YOURSELF

Small-batch buttery toffee layered and drizzled plaid with artisan milk and dark chocolates, their own caramel sauce made with cream and Madagascar vanilla, all topped with whole roasted pecans and cashews – that’s our Tartan Turtle! Cache Toffee Collection is available at Gainan’s Midtown Flower and City Vineyard. Find them online at cachetoffee.com.

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COMFORT IN EVERY STEP!

Give Mom the gift of comfort with a pair of stylish Skechers from Shipton’s Big R. A great selection of the most comfy footwear that looks as good as it feels on! Skechers Shoes starting at $54.99.

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NOSTALGIC TRIP TO THE PAST.

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e r u t l u c n o i sh when

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INDIGENOUS DESIGNERS PUT THEIR NATIVE-INSPIRED LOOKS ON THE RUNWAY written by JULIE KOERBER photography by CASEY PAGE & LEVI BLACK EAGLE 72

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MODELS IS WEARING DESIGNS BY DELLA

COLORFUL FLASHES OF GEOMETRIC PRINTS, traditional beadwork in bold splashes of color and bassthumping music set the stage to put Native-inspired fashion in the spotlight. The night in mid-April brought 11 Indigenous fashion designers together to unveil their latest looks. The room was packed with more than 500 tribal members from all over North America.

capital. “We want to help these artists realize their worth,” Cora says.

Some of the designers showcased are seasoned, others are just emerging. Della Big-Hair Stump of Designs by Della has been designing gowns to reflect her heritage since 2016. Carrie Moran McCleary not only creates fashionable clothing adorned with Indigenous art but has her own Native doll collection.

Brocade Stops Black Eagle uses photos of her traditional geometric bead designs and digitally displays them onto her clothing line. And Angela Howe Parrish is one of the newcomers who is about to launch her designs in an online boutique.

The well-choreographed production — Big Sky Indigenous Women in Fashion and Art Gala — was the brainchild of Cora Chandler, a member of the Fort Belknap Tribes and owner of the event company, Cora Kay Productions. It was first of what she hopes will be many events designed to create a platform for Montana’s Indigenous artists.

“This is the first time in the history of Montana that we have had this many Indigenous women come together to showcase their items all in one place,” Cora says. “We get tribalistic with each other with our different tribes, even within the state.

It’s unlikely to have this many artists come together and have that unity.”

If you ask these designers, they’ll tell you the success of Bethany Yellowtail of B. Yellowtail Designs helped pave the way for their companies. A member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Bethany left Montana behind to attend the Fashion C o r a K ay Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. While she started her career Productions with the big-name fashion label BCBG Max Azria, she left in 2015 to launch her own line. Since then, she’s opened the B. Yellowtail Collective, an initiative designed to create economic opportunities for other Indigenous entrepreneurs. Not only did Bethany speak at the symposium, she made a guest appearance at the gala.

Cora er Chandl

Before the fashion-inspired gala, Cora and Tonya Plummer with Montana Native Growth Fund capped off a day full of entrepreneurial education. The symposium for Native entrepreneurs offered education on everything from creating the right elevator pitch and understanding the legal lingo of operating a business to developing networking skills and finding opportunities for

meet the designers Della Big Hair Stump D E S I G N S BY D E L L A

Della Big Hair Stump doesn’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t surrounded by artistic expression.

“Growing up, I saw my grandparents sit around, my grandmother would be beading, someone would be sewing, someone would be drawing. My grandpa would be doing feather work,” she says. “Our family is really strong in our culture. I was raised that way.”

“I wanted to represent who I am and where I come from,” Della says. “I started posting photos of my dresses. Teen Vogue got a hold of it and they did a feature. From there, it caught on like wildfire.” That was in 2018.

Since then, she’s been to Paris Fashion Week, sharing one of her lines at a show in the Eiffel Tower and hitting Native American markets and shows all over the country.

When her daughters started going to high school dances, Della noticed there wasn’t much on the market for a young Indigenous woman to express her heritage.

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” she says. Her ideas are never sketched out, she just starts cutting and sewing. Each dress is one of a kind. Today, her email is packed with requests for dresses and she’s branched out to design Native-inspired wedding apparel.

“How come there is only Southwest?

We are not Southwest. We are Plains Indians, and our diamonds are elk ivory,” Della remembers telling herself. She started crafting her own line of prom dresses.

“It’s pretty cool because your name is out there and people are interested in your work,” Della says. “I saw three girls wearing my dresses at one event,” she says. “I was in awe. It just hit me: I really am doing something here.”

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Angela Howe Parrish

CHOKECHERRY CREEK DESIGNS Strands of tiny, colorful seed beads often surround fashion and jewelry designer Angela Howe Parrish.

Each one is picked and set into place with a stitch and a prayer, creating a beautiful tapestry of color and bringing to life a bit of her Apsaalooke heritage. Some designs highlight her tribe’s traditional geometric prints.

Others are whimsical floral patterns handed down through the generations.

“My great-grandmother from my Blackfeet side always beaded and had outfits and was dancing,” Angela says smiling.

“Even up until her 80s she was out on the powwow trail. That’s where it came from — being inspired by all my relatives.”

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Her aunt, she says, was fortunate enough to work at the Custer Battlefield Trading Post in Crow Agency.

Angela remembers going to visit and looking closely at all the work from Native American artisans every time she’d walk through the doors.

“You are surrounded by beadwork there,” she says.

“It’s inspiring sitting in the middle of all of that. I told myself, ‘You need to create things like this!’”

Her aunt taught her how to bead more than two decades ago. Even before that, her mom, a seamstress, gave her sewing lessons. Now Angela’s bridging the two to launch Choke Cherry Creek Designs, a readyto-wear fashion line.

“People will see our culture though not just the beadwork. This is exposure,” Angela says. “It’s showing the world, look at us. Look at what we can do. We still have our culture. It’s beautiful. We are Indigenous. We are living today and we are here.”

Carrie Moran McCleary PLAIN SOUL

When Carrie Moran McCleary was a little girl, she wanted two things in life. She wanted a farm and she wanted to be a fashion designer.

Today, after raising her kids, she has both.

“It seems like those things don’t coincide, but lucky enough for me, it’s panned out,” Carrie says.

Five years ago, she was commissioned to create a line of Native-inspired dolls by a woman in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Carrie says instead of recreating the 1880s primitive-style doll, she gave the dolls sparkly shirts and a contemporary flair. Each doll was one of a kind.

“They are called the Fierce One Doll Collection,” Carrie says. “They represent successful, modern, Indigenous people.

Each doll has a name and they are named after women I know and admire.”

In time, the B. Yellowtail Collective picked up the line and while Carrie says they were slow to take off, “Now, I try to

send her 12 dolls every other month. She sells them out generally within two or three hours.”

Carrie’s business, Plain Soul, marries traditional designs and contemporary style.

“Most of my beadwork will use silver chains,” Carrie says. “It’s not buckskin and I always have fringe because if loving fringe is wrong, I don’t want to be right.”

Carrie hosts online beading nights via Zoom to help show other women that beading can be a lucrative business or side hustle. She’s happy to pass on what she’s learned knowing other women mentored her along the way.

“You have a lot of opportunities as an entrepreneur to make a better place for your family and then there is no ceiling. You can go as far as you want,” she says. She feels a duty to the younger generation as well. “Our job is to propel our youth into success and into a position to make change across their communities and the rest of Indian Country,” Carrie says. “I need to remember that all the time.”

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Brocade Stops Black Eagle B R O CA D E D E S I G N S

For Brocade Stops Black Eagle, beading delivers healing. When she lost her mother to cancer a few years ago, it was devastating. “The only thing that got me out of it was beading,” she says. “I got to sit there, pray and think about her. For me, beading has healing powers.”

She remembers the women in her family beading in her early years but, like many other families on the Crow reservation, “We were in the mode of just trying to survive so the beadwork we had, we had to sell,” Brocade says.

“I think what has changed for us is that we’re able to make beadwork and keep it for our families.”

While she keeps the larger pieces, Brocade does craft smaller pieces like belts and jewelry as a part of her business, Brocade Designs. Her husband, Levi, photographs some of her larger designs and that’s what she’s used as the backdrop for the fabric in her ready-to-wear fashion line.

Some of her work found its way onto the B. Yellowtail Collective. While she’s been in business only five months, that connection has elevated her business, especially when B. Yellowtail Designs shares some of her work with the company’s nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram.

“She reaches further than I ever could on my own,” Brocade says. “Women, we elevate each other,” she says, knowing that it’s a gift that keeps on giving. “If there is a happy woman, there is a happy family.” ✻

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Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboist Read our interview online!

n o n i h o i S h a f S fa alll al

While their looks are a nod to their heritage, all will agree, it’s not only for their Native sisters and brothers.

“I get the question, aren’t you selling out your culture?” Della says. “I say no, I am sharing my culture. My grandparents showed me how to do this and we are still here.”

for

“I want non-Native people to buy our work and feel like they are an ally within our community,” Carrie says. “Now you are a member of our community. You are representing us and doing it in a good way.”

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AllProducts_Poster_24x36.pdf

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2/5/21

2/5/21

2:18 PM

2:18 PM

on the grounds of MSU-Billings

Friday

saturday

Sunday

4 – 8pm

10am – 7pm

10am – 4pm

June 24 June 25 June 26 C

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macarons • gelato • pastries • chocolates • gifts

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Visitors will enjoy ample parking, accessibility to vendors’ booths and food trucks, kids activities, art demonstrations, and much more!

For more information and to sign up to volunteer go to artmuseum.org/engage/summerfair or call 406.256.6804.

401 North 27th Street | Billings, MT | 406.256.6804 | artmuseum.org

112 N BROADWAY ••• SUITE B ••• (406) 894-2333 MAY/JUNE 2022

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MONOCHROMATIC MONOCHROMATIC MONOCHROMATIC THE MONOCHROMATIC LOOK

written by VICKI-LYNN TERPSTRA photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

is one of the most timeless fashion statements in an industry full of ever-changing inspiration. Rock these tone-on-tone looks at the office, the gym, brunch or even within other fashion trends, like the ’90s looks that are making a comeback. Wearing one color is anything but boring. In fact, pairing like shades together can be extremely figure flattering. ✻

WEARING WHITE Winter whites aren’t only for winter. This milky hue is the perfect way to welcome spring. The classic shape and cut of this faux leather jacket are timeless. Pairing it with long shorts makes it elegant. This outfit is as perfect for cocktail hour as it is for date night.

get the look2

Sanctuary perfect rib tank in buttercream, $39; Vintage Havana cropped faux leather jacket in vintage cream, $79; Sanctuary leather like short in buttercream, $79; Pearl necklace, $48; Sam Edelman scrunchie heel in ivory, $139. All from RocHouse.

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C SPRING FOR NEUTRALS Move over pastels, neutrals are now taking over for spring in many designers’ collections. It’s the perfect color palette for a high-end look like this faux leather suit paired with a layered lace bodysuit. Sure, you can pair each of these pieces with other items to expand your closet, but this neutral monochromatic look is powerful. Anchoring this look is a pair of braided Dolce Vita heeled sandals, the perfect starting point to build your beige ensemble.

get the look2

Deluc faux leather pant in nougat, $84; ASTR lace bustier bodysuit, $128; Deluc faux leather moto jacket in nougat, $108; Dolce Vita braided strap heel in café stella, $125. All from Something Chic.

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KEEP IT COMFORTABLE Whether you hit downtown for a dinner out or you head to the office, you’ll always appreciate having comfortable separates designed to help you ease back into dressing up again. Although matching sets in shapes that suit your body is the easiest way to jump both feet into monochrome dressing, it isn’t the only way to nail the look. Finding accessories in the same color makes this otherwise casual look more polished and purposeful. This throwback waist pack worn as a cross-body bag makes this look very fashion forward.

get the look2

Sympli Go To Classic tee, $130; Sympli Narrow Lantern Pant, $210; Sorel slingback sandal, $130; Raelynn waist pack/crossbody, $149. All from Neecee’s.

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m o M

C E L E B R AT E

IN STYLE!

LUXURY IN LEISURE On our low-effort days, we still want to look fashionable.

That’s why athleisure is welcomed everywhere and when we style it in bright happy colors, low effort can feel fashion forward. We are used to rocking our black leggings with black zip-up jackets but this spring, take a risk and go bold. This bright punch of pink is alive with a spring vibe.

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Velvet Fuschia sweatshirt, $35; Hot Pink Light n Tight pocket capri, $59. All by Zyia. www.myzyia.com/jilld.

— Owner Courtney Burton and the RocHouse Team

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READY TO

Party?

WE ARE!

Visit our new store in Shiloh Crossing, across the parking lot from our old location.

BACK IN BROWN This caramel color is both neutral and saturated, giving these comfortable cotton pieces an elevated appeal.

There is depth and dimension in this uninterrupted line of head-totoe brown. Fashion designers are embracing the shade and welcoming back some of the colors that have been considered outdated since their heyday in the ’70s. If you didn’t know, brown is where it’s at.

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Paper Label beechnut tee, $59; Paper Label beechnut pant, $89; necklaces, $49 - $59; bracelet, $89; brimmed hat, $49; 42 Gold Rue suede shoe in camel, $60. All from Cricket Clothing.

VICKI-LYNN TERPSTRA, writer With nearly a decade long career in retail, Vicki-Lynn has cultivated a true passion for fashion. Even though her day job involves event planning and social media for the largest insurance agency in the Northwest, she uses her style and industry know-how to help keep women in the Yellowstone Valley looking their best.

2812 2nd Ave N | Billings, MT 59101 | somethingchicclothing.com

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YV W CO LUMIST

written by KAREN GROSZ

QUIET LEADERSHIP ABBY,

a young lady from Massachusetts, who admittedly spent little time outside of her city, sat with us at a campfire and told of the time she was scared to death — so scared she couldn’t move forward or backward. So, she just sat on a stump waiting for the end. Abby was hiking with a friend in California, a first for her, and she was on high alert. Like many of us, when we are on edge, we don’t always gather all of the information and as a result, our minds run wild. That’s what Abby did. Her friend had gotten ahead of her when Abby looked to the right and saw a field with not just one but several bears in it. She was scared to death.

Now, I’ve spent many a year in Alaska, I’ve hiked a mountain trail or two here in Montana, and I have spent hours listening to men tell stories about their bear encounters, but I’d never heard of anyone just stopping, but that’s what Abby did. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to save herself.

She didn’t know if going forward or running backward would

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make it worse. So she sat, crying quietly, unable to believe the situation she found herself in.

When her friend came back to look for her, she asked, “What are you doing?” Abby replied that she was terrified of the bears. Abby’s friend looked to the field off to the right, laughed and said, “Oh Abby, those are just cows.”

And that, my friend, is what being scared to death is usually like. We sit down, unable to move forward, unsure of how to save ourselves, or warn others, terrified of facts we don’t understand and myths too big for comprehension. And so we sit, without moving forward, until the day it becomes evident that that which we were most frightened of is not a bear hellbent on ending our life, but, instead, a cow, who will only swish its tail as we pass.

When we are too scared to move, stalled between fight or flight, we have to ask a few more questions, gather a few more

facts and then determine the best course of action. For Abby, the best course of action should have been to continue the hike and enjoy the vista of a California forest and the satisfaction of accomplishing something she’d never done before.

I’ve gathered these types of stories — lessons I’ve learned from a lifetime of following and growing leaders —for a new book I’m writing called “Quiet Leadership.”

Another favorite story gathered is that of my childhood neighbor, Helen, who led a life of order and calm that was so very different from mine. Helen would invite me into her quiet home, listen to my stories and provide me with another way of looking at the world. From her, I learned the power of perspective, that by simply changing our seats and listening from another angle, the correct answer becomes known. I still use this lesson, especially when working with a board of directors doing strategic planning.

We change seats, locations, style of input, and output so their minds can work in new ways to solve old problems.

As much as I admire her, Helen would never have been described as a leader, and yet her grandson, Ed Anderson, became the CEO of South Dakota’s Rural Electric Association. I’ve used the lessons she taught me with countless leaders. That is Quiet Leadership.

The lessons flow through your life, too. You have learned them from aunts and uncles, grandfathers and bosses. Bits of wisdom that made you lean back, satisfied, and maybe a bit awe-struck by the simplicity of the truth in the words they spoke. I learned the first lesson from my Grandma Mabel, whose name was identical to my other Grandma, so I am not playing favorites here. It was powerful in its simplicity.

Some people are like blisters, and they only show up after all the work is done.

Grandma insisted I avoid acting like a blister, that I show up early, work hard and give credit instead of demanding recognition.

She also counseled that popping a blister would be bad for my reputation, so I learned to let others be themselves no matter how big of a blister they seemed to be. Accepting people for who they are, no matter how aggravating, has given me peace of mind more than once.

We are at a time in our world when we need new leaders to emerge, a time when we need the quiet wisdom, the steady strength of people who can connect, collaborate, and confidently point the way towards a better outcome. Bullhorns and riots gather attention. Still, I will contend that the Quiet Leader, the one who is willing to ask more than they tell, act more than they direct, and celebrate more than they correct, gets better, faster results.

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Think of the times when you have leaned in, then sat back, satisfied yet ignited and thinking new thoughts.

Think of times when the speaker touched your heart and changed your life. It was pure. It was peaceful. It was aweinspiring. It was lifeaffirming. It was quiet.

But it changed everything.

Those moments are Quiet Leadership.

AVAILABLE ON

Amazon.com

Those are the moments for you to draw on so you can champion the cause, right the ship, or, like Abby, face a field full of bears as you step into your leadership role.

Writing this book was easy. Ending the book was hard! New examples of Quiet Leadership kept popping up, or other stories would bounce to the surface, and I would want to tell them. That’s what happened on the last day of writing, moments before the deadline I promised my editor I would hit, no matter what. Our very own Julie Koerber came to mind, and so I wrote a chapter about her work as a leader, a very Quiet Leader in our community, using this magazine to create significant changes. She embodies the best of Quiet Leadership, the willingness to look at both sides, to expose the good and the bad, and to offer to us, her treasured audience, a new way of looking at the world, just like Helen did for me, just like I hope you are doing for another with your life and work.

You are, I am sure, a Quiet Leader in your own right, and I hope I get the chance to hear your story. ✻

KAREN GROSZ, writer Growing up in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore gave Karen an appreciation of high ideals. Living in Alaska for 25 years gave her a frontier spirit. Life in Montana finds her building community. A self-described "multipotentialite," she loves coaching others with her business, Canvas Creek Team Building.

accomplish more,

Quietly.

By Karen Grosz

QUIET LEADERSHIP

will help you discover your capacity to operate as a Quiet Leader for yourself, your team and your community.

American Veteran: A Story Without Words featuring Dr. Ilse-Mari Lee, composer

teran:

ut Words

www.quietleadership.group

Order your copy today on Amazon!

MAY/JUNE 2022

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TA STE OF THE VALLEY

written by KAY ERICKSON

Waste Not MAKING USE OF THOSE OLD LOAVES OF BREAD

HAVE YOU EVER your freezer?

I was deep in my deep freeze, moving around packages of homemade breads in search of frozen meat sauce, when it occurred to me that I needed to do something with this excellent pandemic bread.

Remember our fixation with baking bread? It was time to have those loaves vacate the freezer.

Move over butter and jam. There are other ways to use those leftover loaves.

Leftover or stale bread (or bagels or English muffins) get popped into the food processor for breadcrumbs. I haven’t purchased breadcrumbs in years. To use my breadcrumbs beyond the occasional breading, I make Herbed Breadcrumbs and flavorful croutons with basic pantry ingredients that I

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been inspired by

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can pronounce. Have you read the ingredients on the package of manufactured croutons? I also like to use homemade bread when making dressing for that extra “zhush.”

Of course, bread pudding uses up a lot of bread and is a satisfying finale to dinner. And with homemade and super easy apricot sauce, it almost inspires me to bake more bread.

Enjoy! ✻

KAY ERICKSON, writer Kay has spent her professional career in public relations and broadcast news, currently at Yellowstone Public Radio. Her journalism degree is from Northern Illinois University. Her passions include her family, sports and food. Her mom and an aunt taught her the finer points of cooking and instilled a love of good food and family mealtime.

herbed breadcrumbs 8 c. stale bread cut into 1-inch cubes 6 T. unsalted butter 1 T. Extra virgin olive oil 3 to 4 sprigs of rosemary 3 to 4 sprigs of thyme DIRECTIONS

Pulse the bread cubes in a food processor until it achieves a course texture. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the rosemary and thyme sprigs and stir until fragrant, about a minute. Add the breadcrumbs and stir until lightly toasted, about 4 minutes.

Remove, placing on paper towels to drain. Season lightly with salt. Remove herbs and cool. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

NOTE

I use these breadcrumbs on steamed or oven-roasted veggies (sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese for extra kick of flavor) or use it as a topping for mac and cheese.

This oil butter mixture with the herb also works for making croutons with 4 to 5 slices of stale white bread cut into ½-inch cubes.

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bread pudding 4 c. light bread (brioche or challah) buttered and cubed 1½ c. warm milk ½ c. heavy cream 2 large eggs, slightly beaten ¼ to ½ c. honey or agave ½ c. raisins or sweetened dried cranberries 1/3 c. slivered almonds DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray sides and bottom of a 9-inch-square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Put the bread cubes in the dish and sprinkle with raisins or cranberries and slivered almonds. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream and honey or agave until blended. Pour over the bread cubes and let sit for 15 minutes. Place the dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for about an hour or until brown. Serve with apricot sauce, sweetened whipped cream or ice cream

NOTE

You can replace the raisins with chopped apricots or chopped dates.

TRY A SAVORY VERSION

To create a hearty meal, eliminate the raisins, cranberries or fruit and add about a ½ pound of browned and well drained mild or spicy sausage.

apricot sauce 1 c. apricot preserves 1 to 2 T. water DIRECTIONS

Heat the preserves and water in small saucepan until over low heat, stirring until preserves melt. Serve warm.

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COOKING UP

COLLABORATION BILLINGS CHEF JOINS MINDS TO CREATE NEW CULTURAL FLAVORS written by STELLA FONG photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DIRK FRICKEL, JEREMY EVANS, TROY BROTHWELL & TREVAN SPARBOE

FOR DIRK FRICKEL, the executive chef at the Hilands Golf

Club, collaboration has become a kind of secret sauce to the city’s restaurant industry. Instead of holding onto the things he’s learned over the years, he’s come to know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving problems. And the same holds true when you’re trying to breathe new life into menus, events, even ingredients.

That’s how Billings Social Collaborative, also known as “The Collab,” was born. This community organization doesn’t just include chefs and cooks like Frickel, it plays host to artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, farmers and ranchers, brewers — pretty much anyone who wants to add their piece of food culture to our city.

YOU FEED OFF While there have been other groups that brought chefs and cooks together, the idea for this kind of collaboration emerged when Frickel realized his industry had suffered greatly from the Covid-19 pandemic. He knew it needed to come back stronger and better.

gathered for that first meeting. The next month’s gathering at the Petroleum Club was even more vibrant.

Over the year, the group has learned about venue spaces such as Beyond the Box, the Art House Cinema & Pub and Red Oxx’s Event Lawn. Marble Table hosted a meeting that allowed other chefs to experience one of the newest restaurants in town. And the group has become acquainted with producers by paying visits to places like the Miller Ranch in Absarokee or to Lady Kate’s Garden in Billings Heights.

EACH OTHER, LITERALLY. YOU LEARN NEW THINGS AND TECHNIQUES FROM PEOPLE WHO LOVE WHAT THEY DO. — Trevan Sparboe

“Back in early 2021, in January, we were doing a beer tasting with the guys from By All Means,” Frickel says. “As we were collaborating for a beer tasting dinner at Hilands, we started talking about what it would be like coming out of Covid, and how busy things were going to be, and how short staffed we would be. We needed to build a community of networks so that way we would be available to support each other.”

The first meeting took place in February of 2021 on a Monday evening, when most chefs had the night off. About 30 people

love what they do.”

“It really gives people working with food a lot more appreciation for the product you are working with when you have seen it from the source,” Frickel says.

Chef Trevan Sparboe, founder of the Blind Bison, a contemporary pop-up cocktail bar, helped Frickel put this collaboration together.

“You feed off each other, literally,” Sparboe says, adding, “You learn new things and techniques from people who

Since its inception, the group has also united to back philanthropic causes. Instead of sacrificing their time and energy alone, they crafted ways to benefit the community and share their own unique flavors. The event, Tacos and Tequila, benefited the Billings Depot, while the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub raised funds from the joint efforts of Chef Troy Brothwell and Swanky Roots owner Veronnaka Evenson.

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TROY & VERONNAKA

SEEING HOW IT’S GROWN At 77 years old, Kate Rossetto has watched the food industry evolve.

“There’s lots of competition between the chefs. That’s outdated thinking. It should be about sharing information and good food,” she says.

“If we don’t share, we don’t grow.”

That’s why she welcomed the group to her garden last August. While she started her business in the 1960s, making lotions and creams from homegrown essential oils and herbs, she eventually branched out to growing produce for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Members receive the bounty from what is produced over the summer months on her 1.3-acre garden. Recently, she started selling tomato starters for home gardeners.

“The chefs walked through the whole garden. I told them how everything is done by hand, how I mulch and how I irrigate,” Rossetto says. “I think it’s important for the chefs to see what I do.”

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SPARKING NEW FLAVORS Veronnaka Evenson and her mother, Ronna Klamert, started Swanky Roots, an aquaponics greenhouse, in 2016. Evenson says she has seen many new partnerships blossom thanks to the Collab.

“After one of the Collab meetings we had a drink together,” she says of her meeting with Chef Troy Brothwell. “The spirit of collaboration came from this great meeting.” The two ended up leading a dinner in her greenhouse to raise funds for the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub. Michele Schahczenski, general manager of the Yellowstone Valley Food Hub, says, “This event totally wouldn’t have happened without the connections made through the Collab.”

Alongside the greenhouse, Evenson grows vegetables in the ground and this last year, produced an overabundance of peppers. When Evenson said that she wanted to make salsa but didn’t have the food knowledge and resources, Brothwell jumped in and started creating.

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TO THE NEXT LEVEL Cookware ets g d a G n e K i tc h ds o o F y t l a i Spec sses a l C g n i k C oo ning e p r a h S e f Kni 4 0 6 - 5 3 4 - 8 4 2 7 | 1 1 0 N 2 9 T H S T | B I L L I N G S | Z E S T B I L L I N G S . C O M | M O N - S AT 1 0 - 6 P M , S U N 1 0 - 4 MAY/JUNE 2022

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NICOLE GRIFFITH WITH BROTHER, BRIAN SPEASL

“The three names for the salsas keep the greenhouse theme,” Brothwell says. Shovels below the name indicate the hotness levels.

“Morita Mulch” is the spiciest and contains mint, Morita chile or smoked Chipotle, tomato, onion and garlic. “I am Root” has guajillo and pasilla peppers, espresso, mezcal, orange juice, Mexican beer, onion and garlic. The mildest salsa is called “Dr. Greenthumb” and is made with tomatillos, roasted garlic, caramelized onion and cilantro.

LENDING A HAND In early January, Nicole Griffith, owner of Well Pared, with locations downtown and on the West End, needed help. On Facebook she sent out a plea, not only on her page but on the Billings Social Collaborative’s group. It read: “Hey Friends, my restaurant (Well Pared) has a few people out sick right now, leaving us short staffed from 2 to 8 p.m. the next two weeks. Anyone looking for a few hours to pick up?” Immediately, she got responses from chefs and restaurant owners offering to send over workers.

In the end, Griffith says, “We brought back former employees. We had them come in and help since they already knew the system.” However,

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IT FEELS NOT SO LONELY WHEN EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A PART OF THE BIGGER PICTURE AND HELP EACH OTHER SURVIVE. — Nicole Griffith

she adds, “It feels not so lonely when everyone wants to be a part of the bigger picture and help each other survive.”

And that’s what the Billings Social Collaborative emerged to do — not only serve the diner, but to make the experience for those who serve, cook and entertain us much more complete. ✻

your yarddens & gar

WANT TO JOIN THE COLLAB? Chef

Dirk Frickel says anyone in the industry or adjacent to the industry is welcome to join. Simply go to Facebook and search out Billings Social Collaborative to request an invitation to join.

STELLA FONG, writer

Stella divides her time between Billings and Seattle and is the author of two Billings-centric books, Historic Restaurants of Billings and Billings Food.

Her writings have appeared in Big Sky Journal, Western Art and Architecture, the Washington Post as well as online at lastbestplates.com.

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GOING SOLAR

More Homeowners Making Their Own Energy

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READY, SET, GROW! Prepping your yard for a season of fresh herbs, blossoms and vegetables

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BUDGET FRIENDLY BENCH

A few blocks and timbers create extra seating in a jiffy

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GOING GOING

SOLAR MORE HOMEOWNERS MAKING THEIR OWN ENERGY written by ED KEMMICK photography courtesy DANIEL SULLIVAN

MORE AND MORE MONTANANS are taking advantage

of a federal tax credit to start producing solar-powered electricity in their homes, a trend that makes sense to Andrew Valainis.

People in this state are generally self-reliant, says Valainis, executive director of the Montana Renewable Energy Association, and they like to be able to produce their own food and other necessities.

“Roof-top solar really kind of aligns with that cultural approach and that mentality,” he says. “I think more and more people are realizing the benefits of it.”

One of those people is Tyler Mortenson, an architect with Cushing Terrell in Billings. Mortenson and his wife, Morgan Malany, live in an older, 2,000-square-foot house near downtown, and they had a solar photovoltaic system installed on the roof of their garage last July.

“I had always been thinking about it, but just hadn’t had the time to really dig into it,” Mortenson says. He’s a volunteer with the Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council, an affiliate of the Northern Plains Resource Council, a Billings nonprofit that advocates for conservation and family agriculture. The NPRC sponsored a Solarize Billings campaign two years ago, resulting in 11 new solar residential projects, with some homeowners who signed up still considering the switch.

$15,000 installation, a 26 percent tax credit would result in a tax reduction of $3,900, lowering the overall cost to $11,100.

Mortenson and his wife make a monthly payment of $120 on their DEQ loan. That’s more than he would have paid for electricity most months, except when he’s using air conditioning in the summer. And since the system is not yet a year old, Mortenson is not sure how much excess energy their solar system will produce.

But next year, he says, “we should not have any utility payments for the year.” And in 10 years, when the loan is paid off, most, if not all, of their electricity will be free.

Another key incentive for residential solar is Montana’s netmetering law, which allows a residence using less energy than is generated by the solar panels to send that excess energy to the power grid for use by other consumers. When that happens, a home’s electric meter “spins” backward, subtracting the energy sent to the grid from the total amount of power used by the consumer. Off-the-grid solar producers usually have to store excess energy in batteries. Homeowners connected to the power grid in effect use their power company — in Billings either NorthWestern Energy or the Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative — as their storage battery.

That’s when Mortenson, who helped with the campaign, decided to make the leap himself. He obtained a no-money-down, 10-year loan through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and also took advantage of a 26 percent federal investment tax credit for residential solar systems.

In 2020, the most recent year for which numbers were available, there were 3,175 net metering customers in Montana, up from 2,143 in 2017, according to Valainis. Still, as he points out, the number of traditional electrical users dwarfs the number of those using net metering, For example, he says, from 2018 to 2019, NorthWestern had 423 net metering customers added to its system; in the same period, the company gained 5,400 new electricity customers in Montana.

The tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of income tax a homeowner would otherwise owe. A home solar installation typically costs between $10,000 and $20,000. With a

The federal tax credit was established in 2015 and renewed by Congress in 2020. The credit is scheduled to drop from 26 percent to 22 percent in 2023 and is to expire in 2024 unless Congress

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WHEN YOU INSTALL A SOLAR SYSTEM IN 2022, renews it again. That looming possibility is behind some of the boom in solar installations. Lots of new installers have popped up in Montana, and many of them are aggressively advertising, encouraging homeowners to take advantage of the tax credit before it is reduced or eliminated.

%

OF YOUR TOTAL PROJECT COSTS CAN BE CLAIMED AS A

CREDIT ON YOUR FEDERAL TAX RETURN

Brandon Wittman, CEO of Yellowstone Valley Electric, thinks the tax credit is relatively safe. “I don’t see the tax credit going away,” he says. It’s too popular.” The same with netmetering, he says: “I think it’s all going to continue, and I think the interest will increase.”

Wittman does caution homeowners that claims of free energy from the outset are “just not accurate.” Yellowstone Valley Electric has about 100 net metering customers, he says, and of those perhaps two have a surplus of energy at the end of the year.

“Not that it doesn’t work, because it does,” he says. “There are some that get pretty close to zero.”

Shaun Sideris, general manager of Wegner Roofing and Solar in Billings, says the benefits are clear to most homeowners who look into solar installations.

His company is a testament to the increasing attractiveness of solar. It was called Wegner Roofing for many years, but had been adding so much solar work that it changed its name to Wegner Roofing and Solar last fall. Solar installations now account for 40 to 50 percent of the company’s business, Sideris says.

Sideris says Wegner offers an interest rate of 1.99 percent for people who want to go with a 30-year loan, but for 12- and 15-year terms there is no money down and zero interest. If you install solar and sell your house before the loan is paid off, he said, the new owner could assume the loan, but in today’s seller’s market, people are more likely to take the proceeds from the home sale and pay off the loan. Also, he says, homes with solar systems have been selling for 4 to 8 percent more than those without.

Valainis, with the renewable energy association, says that in addition to the tax credits, two big factors are pushing the increase in solar. One is that prices for components have been steadily dropping for many years. The other, he says, is that “renewable energy is just mainstream now. It’s no longer called ‘alternative’ energy.”

Cooperative DELIVERING THE

“They have an infinite return on investment, because they’re not putting any money down,” he says. “And then they’re using all the tax credits that apply. And the monthly payment (on the installation loan) is oftentimes less than what they’re currently paying for their electric.”

DIFFERENCE

The association recently put out a press release warning consumers that out-of-state installers might take advantage of the boom to offer deals that might be—and probably are—too good to be true. The good news is that the cautionary note wasn’t based on any actual examples of fraudulent activity, not yet.

“Our market in Montana isn’t big enough for that,” he says. “The market here is full of small-business, professional installers.” ✻

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THE DESIGN PROCESS

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Ready, Ready, set, set,

GROW! PREPPING YOUR YARD FOR A SEASON OF FRESH HERBS, BLOSSOMS AND VEGETABLES written by SUE OLP photography courtesy GAINANS

DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER, temperatures are finally warming up and this time of year, many people’s thoughts turn to planting flowers and vegetables. The official last-frost date in Billings is May 15, so it’s not too early to think about preparing to plant, says Jim Gainan, president of Gainan’s Flowers in Billings.

Start by taking an inventory of gardening equipment. Sharpen the blades on your lawn mover if need be. Do a check-up on your weed eater. Be sure to clean those rain gutters before heavy spring or summer storms come along. The biggest, most fundamental step is preparing the soil for planting.

Soil in Montana, and particularly in Billings, isn’t rich in nutrients,” Gainan says.

“Getting your bed ready, whether flowers or vegetables, means tilling the soil and putting in compost — preferably some kind of organic compost,” he says. “It pays to get the good stuff. If you think of it the nutrients for the plants for the whole summer, it’s worth spending a little bit of money on it.”

Peat moss can be another good supplement to amend the soil.

In particularly clay-like soil, vermiculite is also a good addition.

Some areas where the ground is hard may require gardeners to dig a hole and place topsoil in it, “but that’s on rare occasions,” Gainan says.

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appropriate, and, for those who intend to use a drip system, get that ready as well.

“If you set up the watering properly and you set up the weed control properly, it makes keeping up that garden through September good,” he says.

During planting, Gainan suggests adding a time-release fertilizer that lasts the whole growing season for in-ground plants. This is especially crucial for container gardens and hanging baskets.

Pinching back plants, once they are in place, will encourage their growth. From there, continue using a weekly water-based fertilizer throughout the summer.

As for plants that start withering once the summer comes on, Gainan has this advice: “If it’s not doing well, don’t spend the summer trying to fix it. Change it. It’s too short a season to try to bring around some things. If they get too dry, they’re done.”

For people who prefer to plant flowers in pots, he recommends a few larger containers full of flowers that make a big splash of color over lots of small pots.

To enjoy a variety of flowers through the summer and fall, Gainan suggests planting a variety of perennials that, once in the ground, bloom every year. He also recommends picking some plants that bloom early and pairing them with blossoms that bloom later in the season for continual color.

“With a perennial bed, plan it for the dates so you have color all the time, and supplement with annuals, like geraniums,” he says.

For instance, in the spring, tulips and irises pop up and, in the fall, black-eyed Susans, with others in between. If you do your homework in advance for each type of flower’s timing, the bed can be a veritable feast for the eyes.

Gainan also encourages gardeners not to discount shady areas. Hostas, which are perennials, and coleus, an annual in Montana, are beautiful and easy to grow in the shady part of the garden. Impatiens, which come in a variety of colors, also flourish in less-thansunny spots.

“It’s a cooling feeling to look at a shade garden, and they don’t require much watering,” he says.

For gardening in general in Billings, flowers such as geraniums, starry white-flowered bacopa, sweet potato vine, petunias, lilacs, Shasta daisies and peonies all do well, Gainan says.

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JIM'S TIP

Themed Pots ■M AKE

A PIZZA OR SALSA GARDEN THAT INCLUDES THE INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR FAVORITE SUMMER RECIPE. ■ THAT COULD INCLUDE TOMATOES, PEPPERS, ONIONS AND CILANTRO OR TOMATOES, ONIONS, BASIL AND OREGANO.

like a chocolate petunia, or you might want to do moss roses for something easy to take care of,” he says. “Another thing that is very pretty, very prolific and inexpensive, if you have a larger area, are squash and pumpkin vines.”

For a fun twist this summer, try a themed plot, like a pizza or salsa garden that includes the ingredients for your favorite summer recipe. That could include tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro or tomatoes, onions, basil and oregano.

Gainan also suggests thinking in terms of color themes. “If it’s a year where you’re wanting to peace and tranquility, you can do mostly white flowers,” he says. “If you’re feeling quite celebratory or love lots of colors, mixing flowers is also good.”

Herb gardens offer a great sensory experience, he says, “not just to eat them but to smell them.” They can be planted in a pot or a bed, and some perennial herbs, like thyme, oregano and mint, pop up every year.

To keep things visually appealing, Gainan suggests picking up a color wheel. Combine opposites like blue and orange or red and green. Just two colors together can “make a big impact,” he says.

On the other hand, he cautions, more is not better when it comes to color. It can create a bit of visual chaos if you choose bold colors mixed with pastels or colors that aren’t complementary on the color wheel.

“A French herb garden right outside the kitchen” is great, Gainan says. “You don’t need a lot of them and it’s very inexpensive, compared to buying them.”

When it comes to caring for your blossoms, keep it simple. Put together flowers that share similar watering requirements. A flower with a thick leaf structure, like a geranium, might not do as well with the more delicate leaf of alyssum. The more delicate the leaf structure, the more attention the plant takes.

And, best yet, having these herbs right within arm’s reach means fresh ingredients to add to your summer fare right outside your door. ✻

Vegetable gardens have become very popular over the past couple of years, Gainan says. “They can go all the way from a serious operation to growing a few things you like,” he says.

Vegetables do best in a freestanding raised bed, constructed above ground level, or directly in the soil. You can do a single tomato plant in a pot fairly easily, Gainan says, but a pot limits the plant’s food source.

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Bench

BUDGET FRIENDLY

LOOK WH AT W E FOU ND

written by RACHEL JENNINGS photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

A FEW BLOCKS AND TIMBERS CREATE EXTRA SEATING IN A JIFFY

SUMMER’S HERE

and the time is right for perching yourself on your patio. We want to surround ourselves with friends and family but often we don’t have the seating to accommodate everyone. If you’re looking for a few extra seats that have a lot of bang for the buck, a cinder block bench does just that. These benches can be put together quickly and will hold up nicely to the summer elements.

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What you

will need..

• 14 cinder blocks • 4 landscaping tim • Cushions for the bers

bench

.

Instructions We picked up everything we needed at our local big box home improvement store. Instead of spending hundreds on a patio set, everything we needed added up to about $75. The hardest part of this project was unloading the cinder blocks.

They are heavy! (As an aside, I did count this as my workout for the day.)

I started with one side of the bench, placing four cinder blocks on end vertically, making sure the sides were touching. I then took two cinder blocks and placed them horizontally with the ends touching on top of the previous vertical row. I placed the seventh cinder block horizontally with holes up on the top of the previous horizontal row.

Moving to the other side of the bench, I placed the second grouping of blocks following the same placement instructions, setting them about five feet across from the first side of the bench.

Now, slide your landscaping timbers into the second (horizontal) row of blocks leaving about a foot and half of your timbers hanging out on both sides. And voila, you have a bench!

To give my bench some charm, I planted some flowers in the top cinder block and tied on a bench cushion for comfort and color.

These benches are quick, easy, and fun to do. Whether you use these at a cabin or at your next outdoor event, there will be no worries about seating. No muss, no fuss, easy and sturdy even in strong winds. ✻

Home Loan Solutions Purchasing Building

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RACHEL JENNINGS, writer

Rachel is a self described "Junker," who not only loves all things old, but LOVES the challenge of trying to make something new out of each find. While she is a Hair Stylist by day, in her off time you can often find her covered in paint, trying to repurpose something she's found.

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love2 live5 WHERE YOU

CREATING FUNCTION AND SPACE IN A SMALLER HOME written by TRISH ERBE SCOZZARI photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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BEFORE:

MASTER BATH MASTER BEDROOM

KITCHEN

DINING

MAIN BATH

DN

MASTER CLOSET

BEDROOM 2

LIVING

BEDROOM 1

BEFORE:

AFTER: KITCHEN

MASTER BATH DINING DROOM MASTER BE

MASTER BATH

MAIN BATH

KITCHEN

MASTER BEDROOM

DN

DINING

MASTER CLOSET

2668

2668

MASTER SHOWER

DN

LIVING

MASTER CLOSET

1 BEDROOM 2 BEDROOM

MAIN BATH BEDROOM 1

LIVING RO OM

AFTER: KIT JONI AND MIKE OSWALD love where they live. “It’s MASTER

CHEN

why we’re staying in this house BATH - we love the neighborhood,” rejoices Joni, now retired from over a three DIdecade nursing NING career. “It’s centrally DROOM located. Mike’s ten minutes from work BE ER ST MA at Charter (Communications) and ten minutes from the airport DN as he travels for work.”

MASTER

founder of the design-rebuild company. “Sometimes we have to change the layout so the house makes sense for how the owners live.”

SHOWER

Moving from Bozeman to the Magic City six years ago, the couple settled in a solidly-built two level home just off Poly Drive West.

“We finished the downstairs as it was only partially done,” says OM LIVING RO Joni. However, when it came to the 1250 square-foot main floor it MASTER was time to call in Freyenhagen Construction.

ET OS CL MAIN 2668

2668

BATH

1 BEDROOM

“We started talking with Joni and Mike asking, ‘what if we take out walls and move this here and this over there?’” says Designer Angie Freyenhagen. “We showed them what can be done in a small space.”

“It’s a common story in a 1970’s home with three bedrooms and a dinky bathroom on the main floor,” explains Jeremy Freyenhagen,

Gone is an oddly-placed coat closet that unceremoniously greeted Joni and Mike each time they stepped into the house. Situated squarely behind this closet was a walled-off staircase leading to the lower level. These walls came a tumbling down in short order.

“We opened it up and now the house feels so much bigger,” says Jeremy.

The sophisticated composition of the revised floor plan embraces

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The home soon underwent a dramatic renovation. The outdated choppy layout blossomed into a Transitional style open concept design starting at the front door.

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distinctive style while maximizing functionality. The airy space offers a warm welcome reflecting the homeowners’ organized and active lifestyle.

B E FO R E

A stunning custom open-cable stairway with alder railing lends an artistic flair to the space. “I wanted wire,” rejoices Joni. “It’s so different, functional and beautiful. And, it’s more aesthetic.”

The wood tones of the stair railing pair nicely with the new fireplace mantle. “We made the mantle to give it character,” says Angie, “so it doesn’t look too traditional.” The luscious warmth of the wood accentuates the kitchen, as well.

A Peruvian walnut overhang wraps partially around the top of the kitchen’s center island topped with Cranbrook Cambria quartz from Granite Mountain Countertops. While the quartz sings in shades of burgundy and cream flecked with hints of black, the dark walnut croons in perfect harmony.

A BUILT-IN CABINET TIES THE KITCHEN TOGETHER OFFERING EXTRA STORAGE AND A WINE FRIDGE AT THE CENTER. 112

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“It’s a nice combination,” notes Jeremy. “You get the benefit of wood for warmth and quartz for easy cleanup.”

The kitchen’s perimeter, topped with the same quartz, allows Joni and Mike a plethora of work space for meal prep. A garage (countertop storage) built into the corner where the stove used to sit affords a great place to hide clutter. “I can close it off,” laughs Joni, “so it’s not out on the counter.”

Joni admits she’s a stickler for “organization and function.”

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THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT A SMALLER HOME CAN BE. FUNCTIONAL AND COMFORTABLE. — Jeremy Freyenhagen

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oils; a pull-out for spices, and another pull-out for specific food items. A pull-out microwave drawer sits deftly out-of-sight in the center isle near the fridge.

“We moved the microwave from above the stove and replaced it with a large decorative hood for a more attractive look and better function,” says Jeremy.

The hood is finished in light grey tones of Peppercorn, as is the Medallion Silverline cherry cabinetry featuring woodgrain trimmed doors.

“Even though the trim has texture,” mentions Joni, “the glossy finish makes it super easy to clean.”

Stainless steel appliances present a great look with the custom cabinetry highlighted with simple molding. “We added a built-in cabinet at the far end of the kitchen to pull it all together,” points out Angie.

The stand-alone storage cabinet showcases the richly-colored quartz top. Adding the final touch is a wine fridge. “I needed good storage,” shares Joni.

“Now I don’t have to drag stuff upstairs.”

How this space looks and functions compared to the old U-shaped room it once was is night and day. “It was very closed off,” says Joni. “The fridge was by the front door and only one person could be in the

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kitchen. When doing dishes at the sink, I looked at a wall.”

Dish duty isn’t so bad today since the light of the world shines in on Joni through a large rectangular window.

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“We used this awning to create a picture window over the sink to bring in more natural light with less divisions (no grid work),” says Aaron Reay of 406 Windows. “The benefit of an awning is that it hinges at the top, and you can make wide operable windows that let in a whole lot of fresh air.”

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The entire living space is much more conducive to the couple’s lifestyle. Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring adds a further layer of classic design.

“It features warm tones of deep rusts and some blacks,” says Kelly Erikson of Floors by Design.

“It’s easy maintenance and doesn’t show paw prints.”

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“The floor is kryptonite,” agrees Joni. “Nothing hurts it.” This is saving grace for the Oswald’s since their fur babies include two big dogs and two fluffy felines. This durable flooring runs throughout the rest of the home except in the tiled master en suite and main bathroom.

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“What’s unique is we moved the main bathroom to a new location and expanded it,” says Jeremy.

Flipping this bathroom across the hall next to the first guest bedroom and doing away with the second guest bedroom enhanced the entire back of the home.

It provided a beautiful new bathroom for guests while creating additional space for the master closet and en suite.

Featuring Amish Made Furniture

“We removed the shower from the big Jacuzzi tub here in the master bath,” clarifies Jeremy, “and built a huge walk-in shower with jets.

We stole this shower space from the main bathroom. Plus, now they have a two-sink vanity.”

Medallion Gold maple cabinetry finished in shades of blue puts a stylish spin on the vanity. Two glass medicine cabinets provide amazing storage. Dreamy lighting dangling above, along with grey-blend hex pattern ceramic floor tile delivers the perfect accents. A gorgeous sliding barn door maintains privacy.

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•

Another ingenious revamp to the master was enlarging the closet utilizing some of the space from the deleted second bedroom.

“I wanted a beautiful closet,” says Joni, “and this one’s functional and easy to clean.”

OUR FUTURE IS LIGHT

THE MAIN BATH WAS RELOCATED AND BUILT AROUND THIS FRAMEFREE GLASS DOOR. LARGE PORCELAIN TILES GIVE THE SHOWER LINEAR MOVEMENT AND THE STONEWARE FLOORING IS REMINISCENT OF 1900S FRANCE.

Sliding back the mirrored barn door, it’s a treat seeing the couple’s closet organized down to the last pair of shoes. Joni walks straight through the middle into her new office space.

“I even have a nice window over my desk,” she says. This avid reader even has a cabinet for her books for book club.

One other thing on Joni’s list included keeping a linen closet at the end of the hall. “They had to work around it,” notes Joni, as it sat between the master and second (now removed) bedroom. No worries. The linen closet stayed put and motion sensor lighting installed.

“This is a good example of what a smaller home can be.

Functional and comfortable.” says Jeremy.

“We revamped the home for one-level living,” adds Angie.

“We can take what you have and create an updated, functional space. Love where you live.” ✻

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builder7 SPOTLIGHT delivering the

COMPLETE PACKAGE Freyenhagen Construction focuses on quality home remodels and renovations. Designbuild contractor Jeremy Freyenhagen founded the Billings company over 25 years ago.

IN THE END, WE WON’T BE SATISFIED UNLESS OUR TEAM HAS MET OR EXCEEDED ALL OF THE HOMEOWNER’S EXPECTATIONS.

“We’re really motivated to make each project unique to the homeowner’s desire and needs. Every project is different and it’s our job to take on the challenge of delivering the complete package. Some folks have a tight deadline, some have a very functional need and some want us to complete a life-long ‘dream home.’ ✻

— Jeremy and Angie Freyenhagen

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— Ken and Coleen

• • • • •

TEAM HANEL

• • • • •

TOM HANEL ROBIN HANEL 406-690-4448 406-860-6181 Tom@TomHanel.com

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