Following the closure of the Tyson plant in Lexington, many families are facing job loss and financial uncertainty. In response, organizations like the Lexington Community Foundation have stepped in to provide support and to connect residents with essential resources. Founded in 1982, the foundation works to inspire generosity and address community needs through partnerships with local agencies and donors. Beth Grant, executive director of the foundation, said the organization has focused on helping families meet basic needs such as food, housing and utilities while the community begins to navigate the long-term effects of the closure.
With the recent closure in Lexington, many families are facing a lot of job loss and uncertainty. What have you all seen on the ground in the day since the announcement?
I think the biggest thing for us is just the initial concerns of people caring for their households, people caring for their families and how are we going to help with this? But I think through that, we’ve been able to see a great deal of strength from our community, either coming together to build resources or build awareness. Then also just the large commitment to our community. I think they want to stay in our community, so we are doing what we can to find jobs locally if they can, and being able to commute if they can’t. So many people say, “We want to stay in Lexington. This is our home.” So that was really kind of the big initial feeling that was felt.
For readers who might not be familiar, can you briefly explain the role the Lexington Community Foundation plays in supporting the local residents?
With the Lexington Community Foundation, we are not able to grant directly to individuals, but we work with our local community agencies that work directly with individuals. Initially, we created a community relief fund that allowed us to support key areas within the community that households needed: food, utilities, rent, expenses, those types of things. Then we were able to identify the agencies that facilitated that type of assistance. So through that initial effort, which was just a little over a month, we distributed just under $450,000 to go back into the community, just for those specific needs. Then from there, we were able to grant out some additional funding from private donors. The great thing about this community relief effort through the foundation is that all these donations were private donations, so they could be used directly for this.
With this being national news, how has it helped having multiple people behind you with being able to give back to the community?
I think the publicity of everything, and knowing that we live in a state that gives back, is great. Whether it’s this in Lexington or within the last few weeks with the wildfires, the Nebraska community has just always been one of giving back and making sure that our entire state has been taken care of. We felt that day one, as a matter of Monday after the Tyson plant closure news. Our phones were just ringing off the hook, saying, “How can we help?” It’s a really great feeling being able to be stewards of those donations and to be able to give back.
It’s amazing that the foundation has the knowledge and resources to be able to know where to give back. Does a lot of research go into that or do people reach out to you?
It really is a unique blend of both. I think, through the Lexington community foundation, we’re pretty well established with our giving day or Give Big Lexington day events. So a lot of people said, “OK, gosh, you just finished these events, but can we use this platform to further assist?” and that’s exactly what we did initially. We opened up our platform, and then they said, “We want to give to this specific need.” So we really kind of took on that initial challenge to be able to gather the funds all in one location for this specific purpose, to assist those families and households in need. The research behind it really is more of the networking that we’ve been able to build within the state of Nebraska, our nationwide partners and different things like that to be able to leverage those private donations just that much further. We just recently awarded just right around $182,000 further to support local agencies. We just wanted to make sure whatever private donations were given could be given back as quickly as possible.
Without sharing private details, can you describe a typical situation you’re seeing from families that are impacted by this closing?
I think the biggest thing, especially for families with children in schools or even young children, the biggest thing we’re really seeing is making sure they can get food on the table and making sure they have a warm place to stay at night. The biggest insecurities right now that we’re hearing about are really those rent expenses and just being able to provide for their families. Where we’re kind of at right now is that they’ve maybe received some additional or some initial funding and support, but now, “Gosh, I’m a month or two out of a job, and I’m still trying to find a job. How and where can I go now, right?” And so wanting to make sure they can be supported in whatever way possible.
Have you received any help from the Tyson corporation or any information that helps you, or was it just no communication after the announcement?
The big thing we received from Tyson is that they have tried to create very open lines of communication. They’ve also tried to market their other plants if people are available to commute or even to possibly relocate. So I think there are those things that we look to as the positives with this corporation, right? There’s quite a few people commuting from Grand Island to North Platte. We’ve also heard of Gibbon and Kearney. The great thing is, they’re offering free transportation through the Department of Transportation and some local businesses.
It’s great that the community can come together. What do you think has been the most emotional impact on the community as time goes on? Are people feeling more grounded about the situation, or is there still a lot of work that needs to be done?
There’s still a feeling of being unsettled, because we don’t know what’s happening to a very significant building within our community. So, it’s very hard to drive through Lexington and not see the Tyson plant. And so I think for that to be something that people drive by and have on their mind nearly daily, I think that’s a huge weight. I think right now, that unsettled feeling is now shifted to “How do we pivot and make sure that, with or without Tyson, we still proceed forward?” and “How can we help our small business sector thrive and continue to move forward?”, while still balancing making sure we can keep the individuals that were affected supported – really shifting to focus on what’s going to happen as a trickle effect of this closure and making sure that we’re still taking care of our entire community.
What are the most urgent needs you are seeing from individuals and families?
I think it goes back to those basic needs, making sure that they can pay their rent and making sure their utilities are kept on, and then just getting the resources out to people with our monthly food banks. On top of the monthly food banks that we offer, our community agencies also offer being able to get by through those food banks. So, (we’re) just making sure that we’re supporting our people as best as possible.
