Sandhills, Nebraska — Drive past the edge of nowhere and keep going and you’ll find Mike and Kayla Wintz, ranchers working deep in Nebraska’s sandhills. How remote? “A gallon of milk is a little over an hour away,” Mike told CBS News.
In March, the Morrill Fire — the largest wildfire in Nebraska history — scorched about 1,000 square miles of ranchland, including the 11,000 acres Mike and Kayla lease. “Within two hours it’s all gone, it’s tough,” Mike said. With the grass gone, their cattle couldn’t graze, and the couple faced the real threat of losing their livelihood. Nearby ranchers were in the same situation: no grass, no hay.
Then Mike’s phone began to ring. To date, he says he’s received about $80,000 worth of hay, much of it from anonymous donors. “They don’t want the glory,” Mike said. Kayla added, “They know they did it and that’s all they need.”
Volunteer Sara Cover has been coordinating donations and connecting donors with other ranchers who lost everything. “Up to 200 phone calls a day of people wanting to donate hay,” Cover told CBS News. “You see these convoys of 20-plus trucks loaded with hay. And there’s school kids cheering them on.”
No one asked for the help — it arrived from thousands of farmers, ranchers and truck drivers, some coming from as far away as South Carolina. Acts of empathy, charity and grace have reminded the Wintzes and their neighbors that even in isolation they aren’t alone. As Cover noted, “Every rancher that we have called to send them hay has asked us to send it to their neighbor first.”