Hoosiers Helping Nebraskans Devastated By Flooding
BOONE COUNTY — School had just let out for the day Friday, but 4-Hers Abigail Kline, 15, and Nate Donner, 12, had already made their way from Lebanon High School and Lebanon Middle School, respectively, to the lot of Timmons Feed and Farm Supply.
The two are among dozens of Boone County volunteers donating, collecting and delivering supplies to Nebraska to provide farmers there with items for flood relief.
At the back of the property, a pull-behind trailer loaded with horse tack, lead rope, hay and other livestock essentials was being prepped to leave Lebanon Saturday for Chance Ridge Event Center in Elkhorn, Neb., near Omaha. Over by the silos, the two young volunteers, working with Brock Timmons and volunteer semi-driver Cade Messick, loaded another 100 bales of hay in around pallets of cattle feed. Messick was planning to drive that semi, donated by his in-laws who own Lafollette Trucking, to the event center overnight Friday with the help of another volunteer.
While no single group is overseeing the Boone County effort to assist Nebraska farm families devastated by ongoing flooding, plenty of groups and individuals with ties to farming — Brittany and Jeff Rawlings, Mike Dale, 4-Hers past and present, Timmons, Lafollete, John Deere, the Cattlemen’s Association, the Boone County 4-H extension office, a vet’s office in Thorntown and many more — began using social media, email and personal connections to put together a Boone County program that has already seen several loads of supplies make it out to Nebraska, and that is planning several more trips out with loads of much-needed items.
“This kind of stuff hits pretty close to home,” said Messick. “We’ve been fortunate here this winter, but they’re all hurting out there. And if we don’t step up to help them, who will?”
Anyone interested in making a donation or who would like to help load or deliver supplies for farm families may contact Pandora Woodward at the Boone County Extension office at 765-482-0750.
In addition, a list of reputable national and state organizations may be found on the Nebraska Volunteer Organization’s Active in Disaster (VOAD)’s website, www.nvoad.org. By giving to any of these organizations, donors can be sure their funds will be distributed to those most in need.
Source: Lebanon Reporter