A Tough Ak To Follow

For those of you who don't know, it's Nebraska spelled backwards!

OK, but what's that all about? Well, it's a more than century-old civic and philanthropic organization that donates a lot of money back into the communities of Nebraska and western Iowa.

Ak-Sar-Ben came into being back in 1895. A group comprised of Omaha businessmen was trying to save the state fair from moving to Lincoln when they came up with the idea of developing a community festival to surround the fair. Since then, the organization has expanded to impact the economy of the region.

Ak-Sar-Ben director, Beth Greiner says, "It was the first non-profit in the area."

Today, the Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation injects about $350,000 to $400,000 a year into community projects.

"A lot of that money goes towards educational scholarships for our youth," says Greiner.

River City Round-Up, which gets under way September 24th, is part of that community festival brought to us by Ak-Sar-Ben. The rodeo is a special favorite of families.

Then there's the Ak-Sar-Ben Ball which is another big part of that community festival theme. This is a time for families who've been involved in a lot of chairty work in their communities to be honored. A "king" and "queen" are chosen.

A question Greiner gets asked a lot? Why is the king always an "older" man and the queen a young woman? Greiner says, "tradition." She says, back in 1895, the king was selected from the business community. There weren't a whole lot of women who worked outside the home so a young woman was selected as queen based on her family's involvement in the community.

She says, "though society has changed, the tradition continues. The queen is accompanied by her parents and the philanthrophy of her family is honored."

Most of all, the mission of the Ak-Sar-Ben organization remains the same, "to build a more prosperous Heartland where communities can flourish and every child succeed."