Vítáme vás. Those words beckon from storefront windows and front yards in Verdigre.
For those who don’t speak the language, a local like Heidi Hollmann is eager to translate. It’s Czech for “we welcome you.” It’s a sentiment that will always ring true for her.
Hollmann was part of a 24-student Hometown Intern class that represented NCF affiliated funds in Arnold, Perkins County, Hebron, Deshler, Byron, Bertrand, Callaway, Diller, Friend, Holt County, Howells, Leigh, McCook, Red Cloud, Shickley, Spencer,
and Verdigre.
After seven years of Hometown Internships, we continue to learn more about what makes the experience so powerful. The answer, plain and simple, is abundance.
Each year, Nebraska Community Foundation welcomes Hometown Interns and their Champions to rediscover the abundance in their community. Gracie Neth in Arnold rediscovered a love for theater, which led her to share that passion through a drama camp for elementary students. In Thayer County, interns organized Picklefest, a celebration of Hebron’s new pickleball courts. In Verdigre, Hollmann created public art that added another layer of warmth to Main Street. And every intern spends time with people they may never have met or talked to much, uncovering the layers of their hometown and adding depth to their understanding of the place that raised them and their role within the community.
“Reconnecting with my community and diving into everything Verdigre has to offer has only deepened my love for this town and the people in it,” Hollmann said.
As funds host interns, their perspectives shift. The internships become less of a summer-only activity and more of a critical piece in their community impact strategy.
“I was reminded of the importance of involving our youth in our community development,” said Arnold Hometown Intern Champion Renee Bubak. “There is such value in multi-generational cooperation—this is at the heart of finding and producing goodness in our town.”
Many hometowns in Nebraska see youth input as critical. At the first ever Youth Connection Summit in McCook, the high school group known as Youth Change Reaction (YCR) co-created, led, and participated in a summit that had them investigating the invisible magic that makes all communities shine. Through two days of exploration, conversation, and invitation, these young Nebraskans arrived at a major finding: connections—not buildings, not amenities—create community. People and the relationships they cultivate are the drivers of change in Greater Nebraska.
One month later, YCR members past and present gathered with McCook Community Foundation Fund volunteers for dinner. After the meal, the group formed a circle of chairs outside for a conversation about the Summit, youth engagement, and the future of McCook. Respect flowed intergenerationally, as young residents shared their heartfelt appreciation for the foundation laid by their elders, and older residents returned that gratitude by encouraging the young leaders to use their passion and creativity to make their home an even greater place to live, work, and play.
The work affiliated funds do today empowers the next generation of Nebraska leaders. Building a healthy unrestricted endowment won’t mean much without anyone to use the payout in the future. That is why the strongest relationships we can build in our hometowns are intergenerational, intersectional, and interdependent. So long as hometowns continue to welcome opportunities to build relationships between residents young and old, the future is bright.
In other words, vítáme vás. You belong here.
