What I Learned About Billings Over The Weekend

Last Friday and Saturday, The Breakfast Flakes, from our country station here at Townsquare (Cat Country 102.9) hosted their famous 'Flakesgiving.' In case you don't know what it all entails here is a quick rundown: Over 10,000 people in Billings and surrounding who are struggling this holiday season have the opportunity to get a box full of all of the fixings that make a really good Thanksgiving meal for free, no questions asked. The week leading to the event, Mark and Paul from the Breakfast Flakes, take donations on the air to cover the cost of the food. On Friday morning any and all volunteers come to the Metra and unload all the food from semi's and then get all of the boxes assembled and put back on the semi's to be ready for pick up the next morning. Saturday morning volunteers come and pick up meals and take them out for delivery to people who can't come and pick up. At noon on Saturday, families can come and pick a meal if they need it.

Friday morning I went down to volunteer with them for three hours and here is what I learned.... People in Billings have huge hearts. They want this community to thrive and function. People here want others to be taken care of and are willing to be part of the change. Instead of sitting on social media and complaining about it or just talking about how to help people, Billings residents hit the ground running and spend their own time and money to see the change happen.

I also learned that high schoolers here in Billings have good manners, are polite and have been raised by families who show them how to take care of people and serve the less fortunate. These kids knew exactly what needed to get done and if they saw people who needed help while packing boxes they would come up and help. They were so so SO nice. It literally blew my mind. The fact that they could carry on a conversation also blew my mind. Being from Seattle... young kids have problems being social with others... no joke.

Anyhow, all in all, this serve experience showed me that Billings is a great community with hard workers and people who are generous. I'm starting to fall more in love with it here. Happy Holidays! ~Jenn