Cindi Allen’s Ideas for Ogallala

By: Jensen

Cindi Allen had 14 different schools as a kid, and she moved more than 23 times. She never had a set hometown, but that didn’t stop her from being involved in her community. Even as a kid, she could see the needs of her schools. But there weren’t that many opportunities for her to get involved. There were no groups to join but Student Council, and there weren’t sports for girls. So, Cindi would set up groups that centered around the issue and together, they would try to help fix the problem. And when she moved on to another new school, she would bring in fresh ideas that she got from her old schools.

She moved to Ogallala in 1996, and since then, her perception of Ogallala has changed. It feels like her home. Not only has her view has changed; she’s noticed that more people are starting to see that they can participate in ways they didn’t think they could before. “I see a lot of people in Ogallala beginning to step up to the plate and fill the gaps,” Cindi said.

Cindi has some ideas on how to improve the community of Ogallala. She says that prettier entrances and more “green areas” in the downtown area would help improve Ogallala’s look. She feels Ogallala has one shot at someone, whether it’s a person who wants to move to a smaller community or someone interviewing for a job, and Ogallala need a good first impression.  

Cindi has also done her part to help the community. Cindi was on the Agricultural Advisory Committee for Congressman Tom Osborne and Congressman Adrian Smith. Other leadership roles she has taken involve the Nebraska L.E.A.D “Leadership, Education, Agriculture, Development” program and the Nebraska State Chamber Leadership program, Class 1. Locally, she served on the Ogallala School Board and was a candidate for the State Board of Education. Cindi has served as a KCAD Board Member and is currently a member of the Keith County Chamber Advisory Committee. She was proud to be a part of the Anna Batehelcer Excellence in Public Service as well. Even while living in Germany, she organized a bible study for little kids.

Cindi is a past president of Rotary and she helped form the group Interact for Youth, which is a student branch of the Rotary. Through her years as Interact’s sponsor, she has helped the group raise money for many amazing humanitarian projects that have benefited children and youth around the world. Some fundraising projects OHS students have participated in include: the Purple Pinky Project, which raised $485 to purchase 485 polio vaccinations over seas; the 5K Turkey Trot; Cocoa to Go at the Parade of Lights; and Battle of the Bands.

Through Interact fundraising, Cindi was able to take $1000 to a school in Uganda, Africa to help them finish building. Interact also was able to fund three Shelter Boxes for victims of Hurricane Katrina, people in Haiti, as well as Japan. These boxes were $1200 each and supplied a family of ten with a tent, water, and all the supplies they would need to survive on their own. Interact also was able to sponsor education for two children in Kenya for 3-4 years through their fundraising efforts. Interact has also helped supply hospital supplies to Romania and one Filipino child’s surgery to correct a cleft palette through Alliance for Smiles. Locally, Interact has sponsored a school supply drive for several years and made donations to the Women’s Resource Center.

Ogallala Needed Some Exercise

By: Sydni and Annastazia

Since 2004, Maggie O’Neil has been the personal trainer at the Goodall Rec Center.  She is also the person who started and inspired the plans for the expansion of the Rec Center. “When I first moved here, I came from an area that had a really nice rec center, and lived in smaller towns with nice rec centers. So, when I walked in here for the first time and saw what people were actually using to exercise, I just thought to myself that this town needs something bigger and better, because this just isn’t going to cut it.”

“About a year after I started here, the Manager and I, at the time it was Penny Feltz, we kind of started brainstorming ideas to build on and, at first, it was a smaller addition.” But we all know that it grew to much more than just a small addition. It had grown over twice what they originally planned on. After the first meeting they decided that “this town is big enough to have something bigger. We decided to make a bigger facility.” Which made it possible to have a walking track, a racquet ball area, and basketball area, things like that.

O’Neil says that she kind of inspired herself because she knew that something needed to change. Of course every project comes with challenges that they have to overcome. The Rec Center Expansion project encountered some difficulties, but they always persevered through them. “When you get involved in a small town, you always have people that aren’t for the project or don’t have a lot to say about the project,” says O’Neil. “When you form a group of people that are trying to raise funds there may be people in that group that may not get along, or there might be some issues arise that you may have to make some really tough decisions to keep the group going.” She said that the community supported them very much. Since the expansion has finished, the Rec Center has seen a steady increase in activity.

O'Neil is a certified athletic trainer, which is a little different from a personal trainer. “We resemble physical trainers in a way, but we deal with all sports' injuries and rehabilitation.” The most rewarding part of O’Neil’s job as a personal trainer is “just seeing people do things that they didn’t think they could do, push people past their limits, Training people to do a triathlon or a 5K, and seeing the little things that people can do.”

O'Neil defines a community as “everybody coming together and working on all different projects.” She thinks that teenagers should get involved in the community because she believes that the more you get involved the more it prepares you for the road ahead. O’Neil says, “Getting involved in the community really grows you as a person.”

Shelly McQuillan

By: Dawn

Most people know Shelly McQuillan as just another person in the community, but she is much more than that.

Shelly is a mother of 3 daughters and is happily married. She has lived in the community for quite some time now.  

Shelly is a mentor with the program of Teammates. she meets with me every Friday, and we talk or go out to breakfast. A mentor is a trustworthy adult that I am able to talk to and what is said is confidential. She has been mentoring for 3 years now. She is always very encouraging and helps me make better decisions. She also helps with my school work when it needs to be done and always keeps me on task.

She makes a positive change in my life and other students that she has mentored by letting them know that they aren't alone, and she can be a friend who they can trust and talk to. I believe that she is always doing something to help out. 

Shelly has inspired me to try my best in everything I do. She had taught me that the more involved in things I am the better off I will be.

Mary Lou Crofutt-O'Brien

By: Shane and Tyler

Today Shane and I are here to interview Mrs. O’Brien a para educator at Ogallala High School. She started as a volunteer in Keystone School. When they closed the school, the staff at Keystone School moved to the Ogallala Public School District.  The entire staff moved to Ogallala Public.  Mrs. O’Brien said the best part of working at school is having contact with young people.  "It’s inspiring to hear their thoughts and ideas, and it’s nice to be able to help them become active members of the community."

In the summer time she is a vendor at the farmer's market here in town.  She also drives the Keystone bus route. She has a big garden and the thing she enjoys most about the farmer's market is talking to people and telling them to shop local.

Mrs. O’Brien grew up in Keystone, Nebraska.  Keystone is considered a farming community where people help out each other. Mrs. O’Brien is an active member and volunteer in her church.  She attends monthly church meetings. She is also a member of the library club.  Living in small farming community, Mrs. O’Brien indicated that when your neighbors are in need, you just help them out with it crossing your mind.  It makes a person feel good inside to help out other people in need.

Being an active member is just the way of life. Mrs. O’Brien mentioned you just have to be a part of the community by volunteering.  Her biggest passion is helping out her neighbors.  She indicated that it just makes her feel like she has made a difference in someones life.

Bob Josjor

By: Dalton

Who is Bob Josjor? Well he is a resident of Ogallala and a small business owner of Lou Kraus Music. He is actively involved with the Ogallala Community Redevelopment Authority, which is helping with economic development and improving parts of the town that are sub-standard, and also serves on the Ogallala/Keith County Chamber of Commerce board. He isn’t always in the newspaper, and he doesn't strive for the spotlight for every good act he does or helps with. He is truly a Local Anonymous Extraordinary.

When Ogallala built the new hospital, that left an old abandoned one. Mr. Josjor said it was filled with "vandals and ne’er-do-wells," it was also an eye sore. Through the Ogallala Redevelopment Authority, they were able to tear the old building down and turn it into a housing community. Another thing that they were able to do is pave about four blocks of street in a low income area, and if they would have not been able to pay for it, the people that lived on that street would have had to pay for it.

When I asked Mr. Josjor about what he believed his most important job as an activist is, he responded with “Communicating, whether that is communicating with people that you are working with or communicating with the people you want to help. Communicating with people that are against what you are trying to do. You have to pool those people together somehow find a common vision that you can move forward on.”
   
He said that the one thing that he thinks that would draw a couple to this community is the security it offers. He says, “That isn’t to say bad things don't happen here, but it sure doesn't happen very often. The safety and security is just a second paycheck that we don’t think about, and that's quality of life.”

Mr. Josjor told me about some of the things that he would like to change in our community. He said his number one thing that he would like to change would be attitudes. He said “A lot of people have the attitude that we are going downhill and this town is going to dry up and blow away in a decade.” He told me of something called a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you look at a task and say I’m going to fail, then you will. But just because you say that you are going to succeed, doesn't mean you will, but you will have a better probability.

When asked if teenagers could make a huge impact in this community for the better here is what he responded with: “Absolutely! If teenagers spent half as much time doing small things rather than watching Youtube, playing Wii, and on facebook they could really change this community. There is a huge amount of energy and a huge amount of ideas that come from young people. Recently in this last year their has been a thing called the Arab Spring, and that is all these democracies that are springing up in Egypt. If you take a look at the footage that happened in Libya, Egypt, all around in the Middle East, and you watch those people who were implementing change, 90% of them were under the age of 25."

From the Mouths of Community Members

Two of my rather charismatic students, Brody and Jake, took a different angle with this assignment. Instead of capturing the story of one person, they set out on a quest to interview as many community members as time would allow to hear their thoughts about the community, how they've been impacted by Local Anonymous Extraordinaries, what kinds of change they'd like to see, etc. Armed with a video camera, the two gentlemen captured the following stories:

Humble Worker Receives Recognition

By: Micah M.

Mr. Ron Siffring is not one to stand up and receive praise or recognition for all the good he does. At first, when I asked him to do an interview with me for my English 9 Local Anonymous Extraordinaries project, he thought I should do it with someone who’s “more deserving.” After I reassured him that he fit the bill perfectly, he gave in and we scheduled an interview for Friday January 27, 2012 at his home in Ogallala.

Before the interview begins, he repeats that he thinks the recognition should be given to someone else, but I tell him that he will do just fine.

When asked, “What are you passionate about?” He is not unsure of himself. His faith, his family, his job, and his volunteer programs are the first things that he mentions. He is very accomplished as a volunteer, yet is extremely humble. A farmer of 22 years, Siffring is now working and living in town. More importantly, he is working to make a difference in the lives of other people. Throughout the community he is involved in many volunteer organizations. He is the co-chair of the local Brother’s Keeper program and is a charter member of the Big Mac Kiwanis Club. He recently gave up his Kiwanis treasury office, which he held for 16 years. He is also involved with the Gideons, a group that ensures the placement of Bibles in local hotels.

In the Brother’s Keeper program, he works to make sure that senior citizens have company, and he sometimes helps them with everyday tasks such as balancing their checkbook. “Something is so simple and yet it’s such a complicated thing for a senior citizen. I see a lot of senior citizens that are in the nursing homes and assisted living in Ogallala that have no family coming to visit with them. They just want some outside contact, and if you bring a little bit of cheer to somebody it’s just… it’s just in my nature to stop and say hi to somebody,” Siffring says of his work in the program.

But he is not just involved with seniors; he is also active in seeing to the well being of the local youth. “Kiwanis is a group of volunteers that are set aside, really to try to meet the needs of the community… A lot of the kids fall through the cracks, and so we try to find programs and ways to help them,” he commented when speaking of the Kiwanis.

His helping character was instilled in him early in life, as he accompanied his mother, a nurse, on visits to her patients who had little company. Another model volunteer was a man from his church. “He was always kind of a good mentor for me… We would talk about people and then we would try to go visit them and do something about it.”

So, what is his motivation for volunteering? Seeing how much it means to the people he is helping, be them old or young. He also noted that his faith plays a big part in motivating him to volunteer. “It’s so simple, and it means so much to them,” he stated.

When asked what advice he could offer to the next generation about volunteering he said, “First of all you have to have an idea that you can do something for someone and not always get paid for it… I think people have to have an inward drive to, and not be afraid of whatever circumstances that you’re going to walk into, just deal with it when you get there. You get there, and most of the time these people are just lonely.”

Ron Siffring falls into the Local Anonymous Extraordinaries category, whether he thinks he deserves it or not. His work in the community is phenomenal, even if it is little known. It is made even better by the smiles he brings, and that he does it with a happy heart.