Dazzling Christmas light show awes viewers while giving to nonprofit

Dec. 25—Adam and Gena Birks will decorate for Christmas no matter what, so why not turn it into something that invests in the community?

Birks, the director of lab sciences at Logan Health, has set up and produced a Christmas lights show at his home on 120 Sunset Court for nearly a decade, raising money for the Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana — a nonprofit dedicated to providing safe and sustainable housing for unaccompanied homeless high school students in the Flathead Valley.

The lights, synchronized to music and displayed on the house and across the front lawn, have raised nearly $10,000 over the years.

Birks started putting up intricate Christmas light displays around 2010 after watching a Holden Christmas on YouTube with his two sons, Kaelan and Karsen, who at the time were 6 and 4 years old. The video features a massive Christmas light display that covers the entire house and yard, all coordinated to different Christmas songs.

That year, the kids helped set up the lights. Now at 18 and 16, they still help set up the lights, a collection that has grown to thousands of LEDs across various trees, stars and classic light strips. He first began donating to Logan Health’s pediatric fund, but when they learned about the Sparrow’s Nest it was a no-brainer. Gena Birks, a teacher at Glacier High School, sees how housing insecurity affects teenagers firsthand.

“We realized just through her students how much of a need there is for homeless high schoolers,” Birks said. “Kalispell is home and with my kids in high school and my wife teaching high school, it made sense for us.”

And the response has been great, Birks said, remembering a previous Christmas Eve when the family left to attend mass at St. Matthews Catholic Church, they could barely pull out onto the street as families drove by watching the lights change with the music.

“It’s awesome. And it’s all controlled, think of it as I have almost 10,000 lights and with these computers you can choose what every single light does”,” he said.

Last year, the light show raised $1,100 for Sparrow’s Nest. The nonprofit is entirely community funded, according to executive director Rachelle Buckley. Eight teenagers from across the valley currently live at the Sparrow’s Nest home.

“[The kids] didn’t get into these situations by choices they made,” Buckley said. “They deserve to be spoiled, and the community helps us do that.”

During the holidays, the Sparrow’s Nest home boasts a Christmas tree, model trains and rolls of wrapping paper scattered across the tables. Donations provide resources for the teens living at the home.

Since its inception in 2016, Sparrow’s Nest has helped 70 teenagers facing housing insecurity.

“Every Christmas we get spoiled,” Buckley said. This year, all eight kids will be at the Sparrow’s Nest on Christmas Day where they will open presents and spend the holiday together.

“The Birks family makes a difference, every penny makes a difference,” Buckley said. “When you’re community funded, everything is so impactful.”

Birks has a mailbox in his front yard — near the street and by Santa’s sleigh — where people can donate to the Sparrow’s Nest. He also is advocating for online and goods donations directly to the Sparrow’s Nest, which can be done online at www.sparrowsnestnwmt.org.

To control the lights, Birks has control boards installed across the house that are linked up by a network cable cord, sending messages to each individual light. It is all LED, so it doesn’t take up an absurd amount of power, he said.

Using an online program, Birks can then tell each individual light what to do, when to light up and what color to be to put on the show.

Birks typically sets some of the lights up before Halloween, when he turns the lights to an orange flame effect. From that point forward — specifically around Thanksgiving — he puts everything up and makes sure it works so the lights are ready to go by Dec. 1 and takes the lights down sometime after New Years.

This year, the show is choreographed to the songs “Jingle Bells,” “Little Drummer Boy,” “Carol of the Bells,” “This Is Christmas” and “Light of Christmas,” a request from a young boy who saw the lights last year. Viewers can tune to 97.7 FM to listen.

As each song plays, thousands of lights twinkle with the bass, chorus and notes of the music. Trees light up in synchronization, snowflakes on the front face of the house glow with every drum and a set of reindeer, pulling Santa’s sleigh, are positioned up front ready to fly into the night sky.

“My mom loves Christmas, the Christmas tree, the gift giving, and I guess that obviously got instilled in me,” Birks said.

Christmas is a joyful time but can also be tricky for some people, Buckley said. Because of community donations, Sparrow’s Nest is able to provide gifts, a quality Christmas dinner and more to the kids under their roof.

Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or kheston@dailyinterlake.com.

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