$7,500 DONATION - The Peter Kiewit Foundation
donated $7,500 to the O'Neill Fire Depart this past week for their
efforts at the Harrison fire.$7,500 DONATION - The Peter Kiewit Foundation
donated $7,500 to the O'Neill Fire Depart this past week for their
efforts at the Harrison fire.
Local Fire Departments Receive $7,500 Cash Grants Each For Helping Fight Recent Northwestern NE Wildfires
Three Holt County Fire Departments Atkinson, Stuart and O'Neill were included in a list of 52 Nebraska volunteer units that received a total of $450,000 from the Peter Kiewit Foundation for responding to the recent wildfires in northwest Nebraska. The funds are intended to help replace and repair equipment damaged or destroyed in the fires.
"The news of these devastating range fires has captured our trustees' attention arid concern," said Lyn Wallin Ziegenbein, executive director of the Foundation.
"We are relieved that there has been no loss of human life-, but realize that the stunning landscape of the Pine Ridge is profoundly scarred and that the damage affects not only the livelihood of many local citizens, but the hearts of all Nebraskans," she said.
"The courage and tireless effort of the hundreds of volunteer firefighters and citizens who responded to this catastrophe is humb1inQ," she said.
"Mr. Kiewit was a rancher himself for many decades. He under
stood the honor and tenacity of that community and was proud to be a member of it during his lifetime," Ziegenbein said.
Local leaders in Valentine, Chadron and Harrison report that 52 Nebraska fire departments responded to the mutual aid call to fight these fires.
The communities of Valentine, Chadron and Harrison have received outright cash grants from the Foundation of $25,000 each. Crawford received a cash grant of $15,000.
Each of the 48 Nebraska volunteer fire departments that responded to the mutual aid call will receive cash grants of $7,500 each for the same purposes of replacement, repair and readiness.
Other area departments receiving grants include: Ainsworth, Bassett, Burwel, Long Pine, and Springview. Peter Kiewit Foundation grants usually require matching funds, but in cases of dire need and emergency, the trustees are authorized to waive the matching requirements and provide outright assistance, Ziegenbein said.
The Peter Kiewit Foundation
awarded a similar round of emergency grants seven years ago to the volunteer fire departments that responded to the 1999 Sand Hills range fires near Thedford and Mullen.
At that time, the Foundation awarded a total of $170,000 to 34 volunteer fire districts.
Although the Peter Kiewit Foundation is based in Omaha, the entire state of Nebraska is included in its philanthropy.
Since 1980, the Foundation has awarded over $450 million to communities and non-profit organizations in its designated giving area.
"We feel pretty helpless back here in Omaha at a time like this, but we've told these communities that we hope this funding feels like a handshake, of sorts, across our great state," Ziegenbein said. "We are here to help."
The Peter Kiewit Foundation is a private, independent philanthropic trust created from the estate of the late Omahan, Peter Kiewit. It is the largest private foundation in Nebraska and has assets in excess of $425 million.
The Peter Kiewit Foundation is not connected legally or administratively with the operating companies which also bear Mr. Kiewit's name.