Barnekoff’s was just one of 58 households that benefited from painting, weeding and scrubbing during the 13th annual Spirit of Service day. That’s about 20 more than last year. This year more than 420 volunteers donated their days to help their neighbors.

The Governor’s Office of Community Service announced today that 70 Montana high school senior students from 62 schools are receiving a $1,000 Youth Serve Montana Scholarship.

Youth across Montana will serve their communities this weekend as part of Global Youth Service Day, the largest and longest-running service event in the world, and the only major service event dedicated to youth.

Land trusts in Montana drew upon the work of 579 active volunteers (an increase of 37 percent since 2005) and the contributions of 5,283 members and financial supporters.

In October, Carderock Springs Elementary School became an inspiration to the rest of us by involving the children from Kindergarten through fifth grade in acts of philanthropy.

Weeks into their fundraising campaign, the Lewis and Clark County-area United Way is halfway to its goal of raising $760,000 for its 36 local partner organizations that help out people in the community.

So the Greater Polson Community Foundation gathered representatives from the business community, schools, local Indian tribes and city government, among others, for a steering committee called "Envision Polson!"

The banquet and the trip to Isabela Island was just one of many auction items that raised $90,000 for PPLT to be used for operations and to help with land programs to acquire parcels of open space

Organizers of Sunday’s NAMIWalk exceeded their goal by earning an additional $15,000 for a total of $140,000. A Bozeman couple also matched the goal of $125,000 with their own gift of that amount.

Tenth-graders with the Kingsland Baptist Church of Katy, Texas, are in Helena as part of a mission trip to the Capital City, helping with places like Montana Youth Homes, Florence Crittenton and Farm in the Dell.