🎙️Keith County Women’s Group Redirects Donations to Volunteer Fire Departments After Wildfires

Listen to the full interview with Kerri Anderson on our Kubota Podcast

In response to the recent wildfires that stretched resources and tested communities across western Nebraska, one local organization is stepping away from its usual format to focus entirely on giving back.

100+ Women Who Care Keith County has announced it will forgo its typical quarterly meeting and instead direct all donations this month to the county’s volunteer fire departments.

Normally, the group gathers each quarter to hear presentations from local nonprofits and vote on where to direct collective donations. The model is simple but powerful—more than 100 women each contribute, creating a significant pooled gift for one organization.

This month, however, that process has been set aside.

“Typically at each quarterly meeting, we vote on nonprofit entities… and then present that money to that entity who has won,” said organizer Kerri Anderson. “However, with the recent fires and all the efforts nonstop hours, days on end that our fire departments have given… we have decided that there will be no meeting and no presentations.”

Instead, donations will be equally distributed among the Ogallala, Paxton, Brule and Keystone/Lemoyne Volunteer Fire Departments in recognition of their work battling the fires.

Those departments, Anderson emphasized, are made up entirely of volunteers who made significant personal sacrifices during the crisis.

“They missed work. They missed their livelihoods. They missed their families for some of them 36 hours on end, just to ensure that as few homes and as few tragedies as possible happened during that fire,” she said.

The decision also reflects the widespread impact the fires had on the region, particularly in an agriculture-driven area like Keith County.

“It impacted the industry of our communities,” Anderson said. “We are a very ag-driven county… saving that land and saving whether it be cattle or horses, or just the pasture that is food for those animals—that’s very important.”

While relief efforts have focused heavily on helping families and producers recover, Anderson said the group felt it was equally important not to overlook those who were on the front lines.

“There are programs out there to help the families, but we can’t forget about our volunteers,” she said. “Those men and women who either fought the fire or supported them during that week-long-plus event… they never put down their fire jacket and say, ‘Not today.’ They’re always up to assist where needed.”

Donations for this effort are open not only to members of the organization but to the public as well.

Checks can be made payable to cash, left blank, or written directly to one of the four fire departments. Funds will be evenly divided if left blank or payable to cash.

Donations can be dropped off at several locations, including McKenzie's Boutique, Tin Cactus, and BueNz Gifts, or at Adams Bank & Trust with instructions to direct them to Kerri Anderson. Drop-offs are also scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. on April 13th at Front Street.

Organizers are asking that donations be submitted by approximately April 23rd or 24th to allow time for distribution.

Anderson said the response so far—and the broader community reaction to the fires—has been a powerful reminder of what makes the area special.

“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” she said. “The support… has been incredible. Businesses were allowing employees to volunteer, making sure firefighters were fed… and those prayer warriors who never ceased praying for safety and for rain. It’s just an incredible area where we live.”

For Anderson, the effort is also deeply personal. Like many in the area, she and her family faced uncertainty as the fires spread.

“Evacuation and even attempting to try to get just a few things out of the house, not knowing whether the fire would reach us or not… that’s a feeling I won’t be able to forget,” she said. “I can’t speak highly enough of all of the Keith County fire departments.”

She added that the proactive work done by local departments likely prevented even greater losses.

“The vision and the forethought to protect and prevent what they could… was pretty amazing,” Anderson said. “I think the losses would have been much worse had they not done what they did before it actually even made it here.”

Beyond this immediate effort, Anderson encouraged residents to continue supporting their local fire departments through annual fundraisers and events.

“Until you’re affected, you might not realize how badly we need them,” she said.

For now, she hopes the community will rally once again—this time to support the volunteers who protected it.