Articles written by Tom Beers


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  • 'It's the people and the place'

    Tom Beers, Seeley Lake Community Foundation|Oct 31, 2024

    We have news that we are anxious to share with you. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation wants to do more for our community, more for the people and this valley we all call home. Over the past 20 plus years we have endeavored to be one of the leaders in our community. To be a centering place. Through our programs, we have worked to enhance the viability of the many organizations that must rely on donations to survive and prosper. For instance, we established the Change Your Pace Challenge. Both full-time and seasonal residents of our community...

  • Working together in scary times

    Tom Beers, Seeley Lake Community Foundation|Apr 4, 2024

    Just recently, we learned the startling news that Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake would soon close down and result in hardship for some 100 workers and small businesses in our community. Like many in Seeley and across western Montana, we’re shocked and saddened by the news. We at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation know that our mission is to help our neighbors, family and friends — our community — especially when we face hardship. Our nonprofit mission is to engage philanthropy, provide leadership and enhance the quality of life and e...

  • Gallop toward the sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's struggle for the destiny of a nation

    Tom Beers|Jan 11, 2024

    WOW!! Peter Stark has brought to life a time and place in our young nation’s history that would forever shape the future of the United States. But I think, more so, it would shape the destiny of all Indigenous tribes. It is the story of the lengths a corrupt, self-serving politician would take to expand the United States and a courageous Shawnee Chief who would rally this country’s first people, to unite and stop the destruction of their way of life. Stark will be presenting this new book in conversation with Montana Poet Laureate Chris LaTray...

  • Why do we come here, why do we stay

    Tom Beers|Apr 6, 2023

    On February 1, we hosted our first storytelling of the year. We again had a great response, in person and on the Pathfinder website. Our next storytelling will be on April 12, at 7:00 at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation Building. Our storytellers will be Vicki Voegelin, Tim Tanberg, Sally Johnson, Gene Schade and Shawn Holmes. It is so great to hear how each storyteller’s journey enlightens us to what makes this valley so special. From the cold and snow of winter, (this one has been a doozy) to the trees and plants coming to life in the s... Full story

  • Storytelling 2023: Why did we come here and why do we stay?

    Tom Beers|Jan 26, 2023

    SEELEY LAKE - We had our last storytelling in mid-June of 2022. We are exceedingly pleased with last year’s events and hope you were pleased as well. Our goal, as always, is finding common values. Last year, over 40 participants told their stories, to an appreciative audience at the foundation building and there were more than 200 viewers on the Pathfinder Facebook website. We are so impressed with how our community turned out to listen to their friends, their neighbors, and folks they may not have known. Why is this important? Because each o...

  • Story telling - Final edition until next fall

    Tom Beers, Event Organizer|Jun 9, 2022

    SEELEY LAKE - The final storytelling for this season occurs 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 15 at the Seeley Lake Foundation Building. We started this community event last fall with the belief that stories can bring a community together. Some may be controversial; most are not. Many are about experiences we find as common while others may seem less so. But, everyone needs to have the opportunity to respectfully offer their thoughts and experience with others respectfully listening. How do you create the atmosphere where a meaningful dialogue occurs? Whe...

  • Building community one story at a time

    Tom Beers, Event Organizer|Feb 10, 2022

    The second happening of telling our stories, “Why Did We Come Here, Why Do We Stay” is just around the corner on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Community Foundation Building. Please join with us if you are able. Masks will be available. If you are not able, the Pathfinder is again allowing this Community event to be seen live on their Facebook page. In excess of 200 folks watched the full Oct. 13 gathering and we would love to have you join. Our October event had a good cross-section of our community telling their stories. What is cle...

  • Invisible reality: Storytellers, storytakers and the supernatural world of the Blackfeet

    Tom Beers, Reviewer, AAI Open Book Club|Dec 2, 2021

    As we conclude Native American Heritage Month, I suggest a great book for your enjoyment. Settle into a comfortable chair and read Rosalyn R. LaPier’s “Invisible Reality”. It is wonderful. LaPier will be presenting this book at Alpine Artisans’ Open Book Club on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. Through her extensive research, LaPier, a Native American and member of the Blackfeet tribe, provides us an objective and authentic view of the rich history and culture of the Blackfeet. At the same time, she brings that history and culture alive through...

  • "Why do we live here, what's your story?" inaugural event Oct. 13

    Tom Beers, Event Organizer|Sep 30, 2021

    A small group of folks in the valley, not connected with any particular group or organization, are starting an effort to enable each of us to better understand and appreciate an inclusive sense of our community of Seeley Lake and the Clearwater Valley. We care deeply about our community, both the people and this place we call home. A community, we believe, is made up of two distinct but connected features: • First, it is made up of various groups of people, often being distinct from each other. Human nature makes us most comfortable living and...

  • Missoulian editorial lacks integrity

    Tom Beers, Placid Lake, Montana|Oct 15, 2020

    I’m not sure I’ve ever read a more disingenuous or out of touch endorsement for a political office than the Missoulian’s recent endorsement of Jennifer Fielder for Public Service Commissioner. They contend she has a “unique capacity to unite a fractured commission.” Anyone that has followed her political life knows that her capacity to unite is because she would be another Republican on the commission. Isn’t that really what Lee Newspapers wants? Another vote to styme the change on the commission that we Montanans desperately need and desire....