FAIRBURY - Every November since 2000, famed Southeast Nebraska radio station Ol' Red 99.5 - along with a dedicated team of staff, sponsors and volunteers - has opened the doors of Fairbury's Elks Lodge and provided locals of all ages and backgrounds a temporary home and a hot meal on Thanksgiving.

"It was really a community event, trying to have a place for the community to come together that didn’t have anywhere to go. Nothing was open, there were no restaurants open, so we decided to give it a try," said Nichole Scholl, who handles sales and co-hosts the morning show on Ol' Red and been a key piece of all 25 of these Thanksgiving meals. "Our first year we had 237 diners. That was quite special, and then it just continued to grow and grow and grow."

The event has evolved a lot over the last 25 years - the group has provided meals through home deliveries, especially to help fill a gap in the market left temporarily by Meals on Wheels; they set up a drive-thru to provide a way for people to safely pick up food amidst the pandemic; and now people can get meals to go if they can't stick around in person, or don't have the ability to get to the Elks Lodge in the first place.

"You don’t want to see people alone on the holidays. We wanted to create a sense of community, where people could come together, have a meal, sit and talk, and just have a nice day out. That’s what it’s always been – that's how we started it, and that’s exactly how we ended it," Scholl said.

This year, thanks to contributions from local sponsors plus the generosity of patrons giving back through a free-will offering, group raised $1,160 to support the Blue Valley Community Action food bank and Hope Crisis Center - and over the last 25 years, they've raised close to $23,000 to give back to local organizations. And this year, about 240 meals were prepared and served - almost exactly the same number as the first year of this event in November 2020, and bringing the all-time meal total close to 10,000.

But after this 25-year run of serving the Fairbury community, the Ol' Red group is taking a step back. This Thursday's meal was the final one that the Ol' Red leadership will be executing. Now, they're hoping someone else sees the value a day and a service like this has provided people here for two and a half decades, and will be willing to help take it on going forward.

"If there is any organization that wants to take it over, I am more than happy to help out the first year," Scholl said. "That’s what I want to do – I want to impart my knowledge on another organization, and they can take it over. We would love to see another organization – church, nonprofit, a group of people, it doesn’t matter – I would love to share my knowledge in how we go about doing things. And I hope it continues – it doesn’t have to end just because the radio station isn’t going to be doing it anymore."