John Barnes & Neal DuBois, Tracy’s Diner – Great Falls, MT
Tracy’s Family Diner had closed prior to the pandemic, after being in business for 50 years. New owners John Barnes and Neal DuBois revived the iconic restaurant months before the pandemic began. They responded to the community’s need by donating and delivering free meals to healthcare workers during the initial wave of the pandemic.
Tara Beam, Roadhouse Diner
Tara sources meat for her restaurant locally and worked with local meat processing facilities to keep them and other vendors going during the pandemic. Her community spirit is infectious!
Lucas Cyr – Co-Owner of Double Barrel Coffee House Cafe – Great Falls, MT
Lucas created a network of partners that has helped distribute over 15,000 sack lunches for school kids from March to August 2020. But his commitment to community does not stop there. He helped organize the first Drive-In Churches in Great Falls, with over 800 in attendance on the first week.
Andy Ferrin, Ferrin’s Furniture & President of Downtown Great Falls Association – Great Falls, MT
Andy donates hundreds of volunteer hours as DGFA President, BID board member, and Great Falls Ski and Board Club. HIs Family Started Alive @ 5, which is now Music on the Mo, a community market and family music festival.
Randy Gilbertson (COO) & Tanya Koslosky (HR), Pasta Montana – Great Falls, MT
The team at Pasta Montana was nominated as a Tow Rope Hero due to their generous donations to local schools, Great Falls Rescue Mission and other local organizations. Pasta Montana is a Great Falls company making the finest pasta by sourcing high quality, high protein wheat from Montana’s ‘Golden Triangle’.
Janine Hieb, Wheels of Thunder – Great Falls, MT
Janine is an active member of the community how has an amazing way of connecting with kids! She has done an amazing job of improving the roller rink – Wheels of Thunder. She provides some great activities and camps that provided a lower cost opportunity for families and kids to be active and come together.
Terry Hurley & Beth Brenam – Great Falls, MT
Terry & Beth (Father/Daughter Team) created a Facebook page, Great Falls Take Down & Take Out when Covid19 started. It served as a community resource for restaurants to post specials as well as a place to help people support local dining facilities during the worst year ever. They have truly made a difference to all of the small restaurant owners/businesses in our community. We owe them so much!
Jamie Marshall – Great Falls, MT
Jamie is an active community volunteer who is dedicated to preventing child abuse. She chairs “No More Violence Week” (April 5-9) and serves on Prevent Child Abuse & Neglect Task Force. Jamie was also presented with the Great Falls 2020 Youth Empowerment Award.
Dave Snuggs – Co-Founder, My Neighbor in Need & My Student in Need – Great Falls, MT
My Neighbor in Need and My Student in Need provide a safe place to seek help for a specific request, with community donors and volunteers responding. It started out as a 1-man operation in 2012, and grew to a successful non-profit that has fulfilled more than 14,000 individual requests. My Student in Need is now operating in over 160 schools in Montana.
Kathy Van Tighem – Great Falls, MT
Kathy was nominated for her work as the Director at Camp Francis. A camp bereavement camp for children ages 6-12. Here they learn how to cope with the loss of a loved one. While the pandemic cancelled past year activities she found the positive in using technology to broaden the volunteer base and gain greater visibility to the need of grief counseling. She thanks the volunteers and notes those individuals as being the real heros for kids coping with loss of a primary caregiver.
Judith Gap Oil – Judith Gap, MT
By using their wreckers to help people out of bad situations, they are a quite literal interpretation of a Tow Rope Hero. They help to keep the highways open when bad weather causes accidents, and they help the community in so many other ways too! These extremely kind and caring members of the community are always lending a caring hand, and deserving of the recognition.
