By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

"I don't have all the answers. I don't have any money," Gunn says. "But I know people that do."

The council, widely known as the RC&D, may be a foreign name to many Central Nebraskans, even some of those it's designed to help.

But to others, the RC&D's work in connecting the area's smaller communities with the funds and resources they need to pull off projects has been a lifesaver.

Just ask Bev Thomas, president of the Wood River Valley Historical Society in Shelton.

Through the RC&D, Thomas got connected with a group of Americorps volunteers who spent four days in 2000 gutting a room to allow it to be renovated into the Lincoln Highway Interpretive Centre.

"What they did in that amount of time was immeasurable," Thomas said of the volunteers. "They did in four days what it would have taken us forever to do. They were just a great blessing."

This week, the South Central RC&D, based in Doniphan, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its commissioning by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But the group had been at work long before its formal beginning. Its roots developed in late 1991 with a series of meetings held by the Mid-Nebraska Agricultural Development Corp. By the next year, a steering committee had formed and the group had applied for federal funding.

While it waited, the fledging RC&D operated informally on a shoestring budget. It held llama and miniature horse shows to raise money to put on seminars in the area's small towns, said Jim Eriksen, who at the time was a Natural Resource Conservation Service district conservationist in Grand Island and served as the RC&D's interim coordinator.

Now, the group serves primarily as a liaison between small communities and the federal and state agencies and private groups that have the resources to help them.

The organization itself isn't a funding mechanism its only federal funding goes toward the administrative costs to run its office. Instead, its major decisions are made by the council, which is a nonprofit organization made up of representatives from the communities it covers.

Gunn said the group's distinctive structure allows for a bottom-up approach to problem solving in which community leaders set the agenda.

"It gives the federal agency a link to the local people," Gunn said. "We just follow the lead of the nonprofit and let them set the priorities."

The RC&D's work on a project will often begin with a call from a stumped community leader with a big idea but no leads on resources to make it happen.

That's what happened with Giltner, a Hamilton County town of about 400 whose leaders wanted to ensure its vitality to keep its school district viable.

The RC&D helped facilitate discussions between village officials and groups such as the Nebraska Public Power District and the state Department of Economic Development. has formed an economic development group and a community foundation and is nearly finished building a new community center.

"He's brought a lot of ideas to our group," Giltner Village Clerk Charlynn Kral Krcilek said of Gunn. "Randy pretty much knows what works and what doesn't work."

Gunn said one of the group's biggest challenges has been letting towns in its nine-county area know that it's there to help.

The group's presence is strong in communities such as Giltner and Shelton, where it has already helped with projects. But others still don't even know the RC&D exists.

Eriksen said that problem may be exacerbated by the RC&D's location, which encompasses Adams, Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton and Merrick counties. Its area includes three cities Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney each with their own economic, business and tourism development resources.

That may have hindered larger regional efforts, he said.

But Eriksen and Gunn were encouraged by the recent formation of the South Central Economic Development District, based in Holdrege. That group covers much of the same area as the South Central RC&D, and Gunn and Eriksen said they hope the two will be able to help each other prosper by working together.

"I think they're probably going to be able to work more on a regional level," Eriksen said. "Between the two organizations, I think they'll be able to get it accomplished."

If you go

South Central RC&D 10th anniversary celebration

What: Social hour, dinner, silent auction, program

When: 5:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: Burchell's White Hill Farmhouse Inn near Minden

Info: Tickets required for meal; call (402) 845-6678.