“Will you be here at 8:30 Friday?,” was the question in regard to a check presentation. Sure, I replied. Adjusting my time frame from midmorning (and my bent for arriving several minutes late) I opened the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center door at the appointed time and found FBLA members Simmi Kaur and Carver Hauptman mingling with the KAB crew. The Alliance High School seniors handed Executive Director Kathy Worley a $100 check to support our recycling efforts.
Overall, I have referred to the environmentally conscious practices (especially recycling) throughout the Alliance Public Schools as “Bulldog Green.” Alliance High’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter, represented by these two fourth-year members, exemplifies that moniker with their Go Green project. Carver, chapter vice president, and Simmi, parliamentarian, explained it is among those they enter on the State level, and have since joining FBLA. This year the goal was, simply, to “donate to a local recycling center.”
Both students also serve on the AHS student council. “Student council is trying to get more recycling going,” Carver said. We want to recycle cans at the school and sort at the school so it’s all ready to go, Simmi added. That process is appreciated by both student leaders, who recycle at home.
There is a significance to the donation beyond simply deciding how to spend a C-note. Not only do our local schools support recycling, but the students themselves grasp its importance.
Kathy continues to draw a parallel between community support and the effectiveness of KAB – in particular our role in operating an area recycling center. People who support our work may make donations to KAB at any time. And, if they are looking for a deserving not-for-profit, leave money when they pass away. As happened in 2022, we did not receive a major grant applied for through Nebraska Environmental Trust worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Consequently, a rather large egg is again missing from our basket. Things have changed. The extra-large chicken capable of laying million-dollar eggs is not the same fowl who delivered for KAB like the Golden Goose year after year not so long ago. The people who judged our application may have no clue where Alliance is or a first-hand perspective of how we contribute as a Keep America Beautiful affiliate. I would rather see a hundred or more smaller donations from our local patrons the same size as what we had hoped for from NET.
Yet, there is a complicated process in replacing a formally dependable revenue source, especially in pinpointing benefactors that want to fund recycling and environmental education in Northwest Nebraska. Forming coalitions with others in our boat may be an option. Local grants and fundraisers have been viable before. Even before working at the recycling center, I grasped KAB’s relationship as a rural recycler and through covering the organization as a journalist. Our residents are amazing, period. There is a deep well of in-kind donations and volunteerism we draw upon.
Keep Alliance Beautiful (and Alliance Clean Community before) have been here for decades. We are in it for the long haul. From the lady who walks across town to bring a bag or two at a time to the packed SUV from Chadron and the half-full horse trailers coming into town from Sandhills ranches our reach embraces anyone willing to stop at the door. It is our intention to keep the welcome mat out.