Foreign students need our help

Recently I was hired on for seasonal help on Big Mountain to fill the many long days of my winter break. My first day on the job, I was assigned to the new Day Lodge,

I strolled in halfway through the lunch break and was warmly greeted by a group of foreign students also working as seasonal hires. Most of them hailed from Chile, but others came from Brazil, Peru and South Africa.

We quickly became friends and through this group, I met more of these foreign students. I have been invited into many of their homes, and I have seen how they live firsthand.

The apartments are nice enough, but putting four or five people in a two-bedroom apartment and charging an inexplicably high rent of more than $1,000 is crazy.

Each apartment I have been to is set up similarly. A single, flimsy, collapsible card table surrounded by four folding chairs serves as a dining table and is centered in an otherwise bare room. Each bedroom has one-to-four inflatable air mattresses. The air mattresses and the table are the only things provided for them in the apartments.

I asked a few of the people what they needed most. In unison, they replied, "Blankets!" Then they listed other necessities that they are living without, such as silverware, plates, cups and other cooking ware and utensils.

It seems the majority of these students came here from so far, yet came with so little. If anybody has anything that they would like to donate to help, I encourage them to call me for a list of needed items.

These items would not be given away indefinitely, but rather categorized and more or less "loaned" to the students for their time here, which usually last only three months.

You can contact me by e-mailing cb882946@grizmail.umt.edu or feel free to call my cell phone at (406) 261-2548.

Caylor Bax

Whitefish