Home
Keeping kids warm with United Way coat drive
coats

Melissa Garcia, Community Affairs Manager, Nebraska

This October the United Way of the Kearney Area and other local community organizations distributed more than 1,300 coats to keep kids warm this winter.

The need was greater than ever due to financial hardships during the pandemic. Last year the organizations distributed about 400 coats. Volunteers stepped up to more than triple the number given in 2020.

Black Hills Energy employee Laurie Cook serves on the local United Way board and helped organize a safe way to distribute the coats. "Distribution was a little different this year. Instead of kids being able to pick up their own coats, parents had to register early, and coats were chosen based on the requests received and then bundled up per family. Then one person per family came to pick up their items," said Laurie. 

We partner with our communities and customers, providing the kind of energy that fuels those areas and the lives of those we serve. Feel free to share the stories and photos. Make sure to tag us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

val
Sharing the power of pivoting at local women’s lunch in South Dakota
In May, Regional Community Affairs Manager, Val, gave a keynote speech at the Celebrating Women in Business luncheon, put on by the South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity. We were a sponsor of the luncheon. SD Center for Enterprise Opportunity is a women-led organization that focuses on…
park
Arkansas park gets gift of trees
Softball players and fans at the Gary Hampton Softball Complex in Fayetteville, Arkansas, will have some shelter from the sun thanks to Black Hills Energy and the Arbor Day Foundation. In connection with Earth Day and Arbor Day, our Arkansas team members selected the City of Fayetteville Parks…
xcel
Teamwork helps restore electricity in South Dakota
Residents of Salem, South Dakota, may never have heard of a derecho, but they saw the widespread damage one caused recently. A derecho (pronounced ‘deh-REY-cho’) is a widespread, long-lived wind event that is associated with a band of rapidly moving thunderstorms and causes powerful downdraft…
golf
Golf tournament features fun twist in Arkansas
Not to brag or anything, but the 15th hole was probably the most fun at the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce golf tournament held recently in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  We partnered with the chamber to support the annual event, which is a fundraiser for the chamber. Our employees manned the…