McCook's next major mural is in the planning stages and people are encouraged to get involved.

Studies show that camping helps fill the need for friendship and socialization, something that should be duplicated in our communities.

There is a lot happening in McCook in June and a lot of people are working to make that happen and to make McCook an even better place to call home.

By RONDA GRAFF MCFF Plans for the 10th annual Southwest Nebraska Big Give are underway with the one-day of giving scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. For 24 hours this fall, people can donate to their favorite non-profit organizations both in person at giving stations and on-line at swnebiggive.org. But before the big day, Community Chest organizers put a lot of planning and work to make the day a success. This includes getting the non-profit organizations registered for the event. Organizations that would like to participate in the Southwest Nebraska Big Give must register between June 1-30 on the Big Give website. This includes those groups which have participated in the past and those which would like to be included for the first time this year. Any group which has participated in the past will be notified to re-register for the 2025 Big Give. To join Big Give, organizations are asked to fill out an application on the website under “Register Your Non-Profit Now.” Participants must also attend a planning meeting, as well as offer support leading up to and on the day of the Big Give. To be eligible for the Big Give, organizations must have a 501(c)3 exempt status in good standing with the IRS as well as have a physical presence and provide services for Southwest Nebraska. Private foundations and political or governmental organizations are excluded from the event. Religious organizations are also excluded except those providing community programs. All applications are ultimately approved by the Community Chest committee with non-profit status verified through Guidestar. Coordinated by the Community Chest volunteer committee, Southwest Nebraska Big Give is one day devoted to philanthropy, where every donation - large or small - makes a difference. From midnight to midnight on Nov. 6, participating non-profits will be eligible for donations, whether they are given online or in person at “giving stations.” Donors get to choose both how much they would like to give along with where the money should go. There will also be matching funds, provided by local businesses supporting the event, making those donations go even further. Any business or organizations which would like to be a sponsor for Big Give McCook should contact Community Chest members. The event is now in its third year as Southwest Nebraska Big Give, originally known as Big Give McCook. But with many organizations participating from around Southwest Nebraska, the name was changed in 2023. Organizations involved in the Big Give are also encouraged to be part of the June 19th Third Thursday in McCook, which is being hosted by the Norris Institute. While a volunteer fair/Big Give promotion was held last November, the weather didn’t cooperate. So the McCook Volunteer Fair is now part of the Third Thursday, with all non-profits are being asked to set up a table to share information about their volunteer needs, what they are doing in the community and how the public can support the organization. Contact Caitlin Whitehead at caitlin.whitehead1@gmail.com to signup or for more information. Community Chest is a sub-account of the McCook Community Foundation Fund, which is an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation. For more information about the Southwest Nebraska Big Give, visit the Big Give website or call Community Chest co-coordinators Lisa Felker or Melissa Stritt at 308-345-4240 or MCFF coordinator Ronda Graff at 308-340-3412.

The McCook Philanthropy Council is proud to announce Dixie Bethell as the May McCook Volunteer of the Month. Dixie’s dedication and hard work have made a lasting impact on hospice patients throughout Southwest Nebraska. Dixie Bethell has been a beacon of hope and support for many in McCook and across southwest Nebraska. After retiring from the Business Office of Community Hospital six years ago, where she worked for 20 years, Dixie began volunteering with Community Healthcare and Hospice. Community Healthcare and Hospice offers hospice services, which provide medical care focused on comfort for individuals expected to live six months or less. Hospice care aims to manage the patient’s symptoms while supporting their quality of life and providing support for family caregivers. Dixie’s efforts in bereavement support have been invaluable. Bereavement support is the assistance provided to individuals who are grieving the loss of a loved one. It helps family members and loved ones process emotions and understand how they’re feeling during this painful time. Dixie assists with support mailings to loved ones who have lost someone on hospice, organizing these mailings monthly for a program that lasts 13 months. Her compassion and dedication help grieving families feel supported during their difficult times. Dixie’s commitment to volunteering is deeply personal. She shares, “I've been through grief with both my parents and my husband. I feel like I have a connection with the people who are grieving and can pray for them.” Her ability to empathize and provide comfort to those in need is truly remarkable. In addition to her work with Community Healthcare and Hospice, Dixie volunteers at the McCook E-Free Church in McCook. She is passionate about the Vacation Bible School program and serves as the Co-Kitchen Coordinator, ensuring programs run smoothly and participants are well cared for. The McCook Philanthropy Council is proud to honor Dixie Bethell as Volunteer of the Month and is grateful for the positive impact she continues to make in so many lives. Thank you, Dixie. If there is a volunteer in the community who should be recognized, please contact the McCook Chamber of Commerce at 308.340.3200 or visit McCook Volunteers on the MCFF website, mccook- foundation.org, to complete a nomination form. The only requirement is that the nominee must be a resident of McCook or Red Willow County. Please provide information about the nominee along with details on where and how they volunteer in the community. The volunteer honoree is selected by the McCook Philanthropy Council. 

Recognizing the Assets and Abundance in Your Community One of the key philosophies of the Nebraska Community Foundation (NCF) is about looking at our community for its abundance – what it has – and not for its scarcity – what it is lacking. Where did this thought come from, and why is it important to NCF? Several years ago, NCF had a close working relationship with John L. McKnight, a professor who studied and taught community organizing and building. After joining Northwestern University in Illinois, he created the Center for Urban Affairs and then later was a co-creator of the Asset Based Community Development Institute. His work was serious academic research followed by practical application in communities. His goal was to find what makes communities prosper and thrive – especially why some do and some don’t – and to provide a guide for others to replicate the successful communities. He studied the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America, in which Tocqueville proposed that the success of American society was from its many varied informal associations – the small, local citizen organizations of engaged volunteers. Key characteristics of these groups were: they were generally small, there was face-to-face knowledge of each other and the capabilities of each member, and the essential work of the group was performed by unpaid members (volunteers). More importantly, these groups were taking on the power to define problems or goals for their communities; to create solutions or actions to achieve their goals; and to implement the solutions or actions. Tocqueville called these people citizens and noted that they were taking power by making power through community action. They were taking ownership and pride in their communities and assuming the responsibilities required to build their hometowns. NCF has adapted these concepts in how it works with and through its affiliated funds. NCF believes that only the citizens of a community know what it needs, and outsiders (government, organizations or even NCF) should only come if invited to assist but not to determine a plan of action. Asset Based Community Development stresses that a community has all it needs to thrive, including the physical assets but, more importantly, its people. Citizens, with their unique gifts and expertise, their willingness to give of their time and talents, and their ability to give financial resources when needed are the true assets of a community. These citizens need to be invited to become engaged as a community to build their hometowns. Leadership is organically developed and broadly distributed through these associations of engaged citizens. The Fund Advisory Committees (FAC) across Nebraska are NCF’s volunteer associations. The committees made up of dedicated volunteers have an overall view of the whole community, to look at what the community’s assets are, to dream about how to enhance and utilize these assets, to engage its citizens so that they offer their time and talents to better their community, and to collaborate with the other associations (including business, government and institutions) to move their community forward. Your local FAC is the 12-member volunteer group of the McCook Community Foundation Fund (an NCF affiliated fund) along with a coordinator. NCF also has volunteer committees in Southwest Nebraska including Stratton, Imperial and Grant. NCF recognizes that effective community development has three qualities: it is asset-based, internally-focused, and relationship-driven. Why is this work even more crucial than ever? Because in the past three decades, we have seen a transition away from engaged citizens belonging to volunteer associations to build their hometown to disengaged residents giving up their power and expecting paid service providers (mostly government and human service organizations) to provide the social, educational, cultural, health and economic needs of the community. The focus of abundance and asset-based communities can be explained as such: When people discover what they have, they find power. When people join together in new connections and relationships, they build power. When people become more productive together, they exercise their power to realize dreams. “This idea of co-creation is key to a satisfying life, which becomes possible when we join our neighbors to live and create a community that nurtures our family and makes us useful citizens.” John L. McKnight For more information about the McCook FAC, visit the website www.mccookfoundation.org . If you are ready to become an engaged citizen, check out some of the local groups listed on the McCook Volunteers page of the website. If you are interested in being a member of the MCFF FAC, contact any FAC member or the coordinator, Ronda Graff. Let’s work together to build a great hometown and make McCook a better place to call home. *** Although technically retired, Peggy Been serves as the secretary for the McCook Community Foundation Fund and is busier than ever by volunteering at St. Patrick Elementary cafeteria and caring for her dad and her grandchildren.

Two projects for McCook youth highlight the community's history as well as choices that affect their future.

Communities needs jobs and houses but we also need places that young people and families want to live and community leaders are doing one project at a time, especially to get recent graduates to move back home.

Checking on Our Success Is Now Urgent As the Chief Financial Officer for Community Hospital in McCook, I tell people that I have three major worries. The first concern is demographics. As we model out our population changes in Red Willow County between the 202 census and where we expect to be for the 2030 census, we know that if we continue on our historical trends that we would end this decade with a decrease of about 520 people or about five percent fewer residents. This drop is compounded by two other factors: an aging community, resulting in 15 percent fewer working-age population members (20-64 year olds) or about 875 fewer people; and a 24 percent increase of the Medicare-aged population in the country or about 515 more people in that category. From the healthcare perspective, this creates both financial challenges and operational challenges. On the fiscal side, Medicare payments do not cover the full cost of providing care compared to traditional insurance. For day-to-day operations, we will have a smaller workforce to draw upon to take care of more elderly community members. So Community Hospital made it part of its mission to make the community a better place to live, work and play as we need a vibrant community in order to attract the workforce needed to provide the care our community needs. We have thrown our support behind the community amenity improvement projects, including McCook’s new outdoor aquatic center and the city’s ball fields, the McCook YMCA renovation and expansion campaign, the inclusive playground at Kelley Park and many more projects. We have invested in housing, from participating in the McCook Economic Development Corp.’s North Point project to downtown student housing, which serves two purposes: engaging the medical young professionals more fully into McCook’s activities and businesses as well as freeing up some housing currently used by the hospital to house these students. These are not just frivolous projects that are nice to have. All of these projects and more are needed if we want to maintain a level of economic sustainability over the next decade and for the next generations. Families need them. Young people need them. All ages need them. And this movement in our community cannot be pushed down the road any longer. On March 13, the U.S. Census Bureau released their 2024 population estimates by county. Unfortunately, as we near the half way point of the decade, we are not moving in the right direction. The internal forecast we prepared for long-range planning at the hospital showed that the population of Red Willow County would have decreased by 230 people by 2024 to a total of 10,495. The census data, which counts between the regular census every decade, relies on birth and death certificates, as well as other federal data basis such as Social Security, IRS and postal records. Currently, the estimate is for Red Willow County is at 10,409, nearly 100 fewer people than we had projected. And we are not alone in this fight for people. Hitchcock County to our west is down 155 people to 2,460, while Furnas County to our east is down 170 people to 4,468. This results in our three-county area losing a total population of 618 over the past four years. The improvements we have been making have not yet had time to leave their mark. The new city pool is open with the remodeled YMCA, ballparks and playgrounds scheduled for completion over the next few years so we will see their impact down the road. But I am optimistic that these amenities and projects will have a meaningful impact on our ability to attract and retain people over time, both for the hospital and for the community. We will continue to watch the official counts for signs of progress, working to stop the out-migration and hopefully see a shift to an increase in population. Ultimately, it will take everyone’s effort and input - from local businesses to individuals - to make the community grow and thrive and to say that we have found success. *** Sean Wolfe is the CFO for Community Hospital and the treasurer for McCook Community Foundation Fund, along with numerous other volunteer roles in the community and has a passion for making his hometown an even better place to call home.