The recession was hard on the Blair family.

James Blair lost his job four years ago, just a month before his wife Dana was due to deliver their third child. They got behind on their house payments — way behind. There was no money for the basics, let alone any entertainment or extras.

Blair vividly remembers the day that seemed like rock bottom.

“It was January 20, 2012, and I was sitting at home. The kids wanted to do something, and there was nothing I could do,” he recalled. “There wasn’t even enough snow that winter to go sledding. I felt like a piece-of-garbage dad, saying I had no money for them to do anything. It seemed wrong in every way.”

There are plenty of activities to entertain people in the Flathead Valley, he acknowledged, but they all cost money. The Blairs knew they couldn’t be the only family in dire straits from the economic downturn.

“Then it hit me,” he said. “We need some type of family fun center” that’s either no-cost or extremely affordable for families.

He searched “nonprofit family fun centers” on the Internet and came upon This Side Up Family Fun Center in Plano, Texas.

“I looked at that and thought, this is exactly what my vision is,” he said.

Blair established a good working relationship with the manager of the Texas center and worked out his own plan for a similar center. He had no idea how he’d execute that plan, though.

“We were four months behind on the mortgage; I’d been doing odds-and-ends jobs,” he said. “The only explanation of how this came about is by the grace of God.”

He had confided in just one other person about his vision to start a family activity center, and was surprised when he later got a call out of the blue from a guy who had wanted to start a youth center but had shelved the plan.

“He had the name and number of a guy with a facility,” Blair said. “I strongly reiterated I was in no position to do anything at that point.”

But the plan unfolded in spite of Blair’s hesitation. He got in touch with the guy with the facility, Philip Klevmoen, who owns the church and gymnasium complex at 305 East Evergreen Drive.

Though the Blairs have a strong Christian faith, they weren’t sure whether to start a faith-based program. After praying about it, they decided to keep their fledgling program secular.

“We wanted to have it open to all families, no matter what their beliefs, to connect with one another,” Blair explained.

After making a deal with Klevmoen to use the gym for a trial event, Family Friendly Flathead officially was launched April 21, 2012, when more than 250 people turned out for the first family fun day.

“The feedback I got is that this is exactly what the Flathead was hungry for,” Blair said.

Things began looking up for the struggling family. Blair got a job as a delivery driver for a janitorial supply business, and Klevmoen was agreeable to letting them use the gym for another couple of months.

Not all of Family Friendly Flathead’s events have been slam-dunks, though. A second family fun day held in June last year was a bust, due to hot weather, too many other activities in town that weekend, and finally, a storm-induced power outage that snuffed out the electricity for the live band.

“We just kept plugging away,” Blair said.

When the organization held another family fun day in April, more than 550 people attended.

“I really feel this kind of program is desired by the Flathead,” Blair said, noting the importance of basing the program in the residential center of Evergreen. “I grew up in Evergreen. My heart is huge for Evergreen.”

The Blairs recently signed a six-month lease for the building they now call simply “The Gym” and have created a number of popular activities.

A free Toddler Tyme every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to noon is a big draw for neighborhood children ages 1 to 6, and a Teen Tuesday is held once a month.

There’s even a date night for couples that’s proved quite popular.

“It’s one of our favorite events,” Dana Blair said. She and Amiee Bouchard, an officer with Family Friendly Flathead, decorate the tables in various themes, and couples with children have child care available upstairs in The Gym. Katina Hardgrove also has been an integral volunteer, helping with the child care and other events. There’s a $5 charge per couple for date night, but anyone who can’t afford to pay can still participate.

Other popular events have been a Halloween carnival and breakfast with Santa. The Blairs offered a Mother’s Day luncheon and Father’s Day car show and will build on those activities in coming years.

A clothing drive to help single parents outfit their children for school is another project in the works.

The next big event is a huge rummage sale, flea market and swap meet Aug. 2-4 at The Gym. Participants can reserve a space (for a modest fee) by calling 871-9262 or email fffmontana@gmail.com.

Family Friendly Flathead is getting good response from its Facebook page, which has “skyrocketed” in the number of likes over the past three months, and the organization now distributes 1,000 newsletters a month to keep the community abreast of planned activities.

The Blairs are working to get their nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service.

The family’s prayers were answered when James recently was called back to work by the irrigation business that laid him off four years ago. However, that means less time for him to nurture Family Friendly Flathead.

The Blairs would love to find a handyman and other volunteers to help out at The Gym, and would welcome bookkeeping help as well. Their needs are many, but at the top of the list is a sound system for the 10,000-square-foot gymnasium so they can attract local bands.

Anyone wanting to donate financially to the organization can send checks to Family Friendly Flathead at P.O. Box 5590, Kalispell, MT 59903.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.