Sandhills, Nebraska — Mike and Kayla Wintz run a ranch deep in Nebraska’s sandhills, so remote that Mike says a gallon of milk is more than an hour away.
In March the Morrill Fire, the largest wildfire in Nebraska history, burned roughly 1,000 square miles of ranchland, including the 11,000 acres the Wintzes lease. With the grass gone, their cattle had nothing to graze and the couple faced the real possibility of losing their livelihood.
Then help started arriving. Mike estimates he has received about $80,000 worth of hay, much of it from people who asked to remain anonymous. The Wintzes say the donors didn’t want recognition — they just wanted to help.
Volunteer coordinator Sara Cover has been fielding calls and matching incoming donations with ranchers who lost feed. At the peak, she handled as many as 200 calls a day. Long convoys of 20-plus trucks have rolled into the area, sometimes greeted by schoolchildren cheering the deliveries.
Donations came from thousands of farmers, ranchers and truck drivers, some traveling from as far as South Carolina. No one in the affected communities had to put out a formal plea for aid; the assistance arrived naturally. Many of the ranchers who received help insisted it be shared, asking organizers to send hay to neighbors in even worse shape first.
The outpouring of anonymous generosity, coordination by volunteers and the long-haul efforts of those who delivered hay have provided immediate relief and a reminder that even in isolated places, people don’t have to face disaster alone.