Communities across north-central Montana are coming together to support a Belt student and his family following a serious off-road accident that has left the child hospitalized.
Huck Turville, a fifth-grader at Belt Public Schools, was seriously injured the evening of December 26th in a side-by-side accident involving a family member. He was transported by ambulance to the Havre emergency room before being flown with his mother to Great Falls. After further evaluation, doctors determined Huck needed a higher level of care and he was flown again to Salt Lake City.
Family members say they have few answers at this time and are taking things one moment at a time, with concerns about possible brain injuries and other medical complications.
As Huck remains hospitalized, his school and surrounding communities are working together to help support the Turville family with medical, travel, and lodging expenses.
Belt Public Schools is hosting a school-wide fundraiser on January 9th , encouraging students and staff to bring one dollar or more to wear a hat at school, with donations collected by the boys and girls basketball teams.
Aneesa Coomer spoke with organizers about the fundraiser - watch the video here:
Joe Gaylord, superintendent of Belt Schools, says the district has used similar fundraisers in the past to support families and communities.
Gaylord says, “We’ve had a couple of times where we have kids bring in a dollar, $2, wear a hat for the day and we get a good participation rate with all the kids The last time we did it was when Denton had the fire, we sent some money over to Denton to help that community out a few years ago.”
Gaylord explains that this is the school’s way of joining the community-wide effort to support the Turville family.
“When there's a family in the community in need or in crisis, the community really comes together and provides support. People want to help out, to let them know they’re thinking about them. So as a school we wanted to do a little bit too,” Gaylord said.
Students will also have the opportunity to sign a get-well poster for Huck, which school officials say will be sent to him as he continues treatment.
The fundraiser has expanded beyond Belt, with Choteau Public Schools also joining the effort.
Matthew Cornelius, superintendent of Choteau Public Schools, says the decision to participate was driven by staff members who wanted to help after learning about Huck’s situation.
“This is a great way for us to support another school system of which we have a great relationship with,” Cornelius says. “When these unfortunate events pop up around the state, we try to we try to jump in and help out as much as we can. We've got a great connection with those folks over there at Belt, and we just want to do what we can to help them right now. This type of thing can happen to any kid in this state.”
He says he expects strong participation from students, saying, “I think it’s going to help raise a bunch of money for Huck and his family. I have a reason to believe that we're going to have a strong response with our kids over here wanting to wear their cowboy hats to school.”
These school fundraisers are just one of many community efforts that have come together. An account has also been set up at Belt Valley Bank for those who wish to donate directly to the Turville family, as well as a GoFundMe page, which can be found here.
