Nebraska

Summer EBT in Nebraska rolled out after governor’s controversial denial

Published

2 years ago

October 8, 2024

Summer EBT in Nebraska rolled out after governor’s controversial denial

LINCOLN – Sherry Brooks-Nelson has been very busy in her kitchen preparing chili, spaghetti and meatballs with bell peppers, and even fresh cornbread. The 66-year-old retiree most recently worked as a middle school cafeteria worker, and as the sole provider for her two teenage granddaughters, she doesn’t always have the resources to cook these big meals.

Nebraska’s Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, a federal initiative to feed hungry kids during the long summer months, helped Brooks-Nelson and thousands of families that would’ve otherwise gone hungry.

Over the summer, the extra $40 per month per child for three months helped families across the state buy fresh produce they don’t usually have in their grocery budget, such as cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, apples and bananas.

“We’re able to get some things that we’re not used to eating because we just don’t have the money,” Brooks-Nelson said. “It’s a lot of money for me because I know how to stretch it. We love spinach and cabbage around here.”

But families like Brooks-Nelson’s in Nebraska almost didn’t get summer EBT benefits.

Last December, Nebraska was under the national spotlight when Gov. Jim Pillen rejected $18 million in grocery-buying federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help feed low-income Nebraskans, telling the media he didn’t “believe in welfare.” But in February, Pillen changed course after young Nebraskans and state lawmakers from both political parties convinced him to opt into the program.

Pillen’s initial reasoning for not opting into summer EBT was his argument that Nebraska’s Summer Food Service Program, which created a system of sites where children could access free meals, was adequate enough and helped provide important touch points for check-ins with families.

But advocates and lawmakers said it wasn’t enough, including Republican state Sen. Ray Aguilar, who prioritized a bill urging the state to opt into summer EBT. He had heard from former and current school administrators in Grand Island, a city in his district just west of Lincoln, that the area had the highest rate of students eligible for free and reduced lunches in the state.

“They were well aware that in the summertime, without cafeteria service, there’s kids going hungry,” Aguilar told USA TODAY. “That was an important reason, as far as I was concerned. Hearing from them, and coupled with the fact that I don’t want to see any kids go hungry, I thought it was kind of a no-brainer for me to jump on that.”

But more than a dozen states — all with Republican governors — refused the federal funds, including Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, according to the USDA.

According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the state distributed about $28 million in summer EBT funding to over 76,000 households.

“Under Governor Pillen’s direction, DHHS successfully developed the “Nebraska way” of implementing the S-EBT program while also identifying additional needs of children and their families through multiple touchpoints,” the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Service said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Eric Savaiano, a program manager at Nebraska Appleseed, a non-profit that advocates for underserved communities, said they heard from families who were “excited” about receiving EBT cards. He noted that while summer meal sites help families while school is out, they aren’t as accessible in the state’s rural areas, and summer EBT helped fill those gaps.

“We’re a very rural state, and it’s hard to go to those summer food service program sites,” Savaiano said. “Although there’s some new options that make it a little bit easier and spreads a bit more of the meals around, this is a program that reaches a ton more kids and can be a real lifeline.”

‘It’s just one thread’

While Nebraska rolled out summer EBT, across the state’s eastern border in the neighboring state of Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds chose not to have the state participate in the program this year, arguing that it was unsustainable and didn’t adequately address the state’s high childhood obesity rates.

“An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic,” Reynolds said in a December press release.

Luke Elzinga, chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, saw the negative impacts of the decision, with more children using food pantries this summer compared to past years when pandemic benefits were going out.

“In Iowa, we had 245,000 kids who would have qualified for this. It was $29 million in benefits could have gone out, and that certainly would have had an impact,” Elzinga said.

Alicia Christensen, the director of advocacy and policy for Together Omaha, an organization focused on combating homelessness and hunger, said there was a difference in traffic between their food pantry in Omaha, Neb., and their Council Bluffs location right across the border in Iowa.

Christensen noted that although the differences in food pantry usage can’t be attributed to one program, it didn’t hurt to have summer EBT in Nebraska, saying it worked in combination with other food and nutrition programs to help strengthen both food and nutrition security.

“It’s just one thread in different things that make up the whole cloth of that supportive system,” Christensen said. “The school lunch and breakfast program is a component, along with SNAP and WIC. And then summer EBT is just another. The more threads you have woven in there, the stronger it’s going to be, and when you take one of those out, it shifts all those resources downstream.”

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Nebraska

Ex- O’Gorman star Bergen Reilly returns to Sioux Falls with Nebraska volleyball

Published

6 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

Ex- O’Gorman star Bergen Reilly returns to Sioux Falls with Nebraska volleyball

Nebraska volleyball will be playing a spring game at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Sanford Pentagon in what will be a homecoming for the Cornhuskers’ All-American setter.

Bergen Reilly, a three-time South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year while at O’Gorman, is a senior on Nebraska’s team. She has become a three-time All-American, three-time Big Ten Setter of the Year, a two-time First Team Academic All-American and the 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year.

Saturday’s spring game will represent her first game in South Dakota donning the red and white, and she isn’t quite sure how she’s going to feel stepping on the Pentagon court again for the first time in years.

“It kind of feels just like a full-circle moment getting to start off my senior year here,” Reilly said. “It’s the first spring game of my senior year, so it’ll be really cool to get to go home and have so many friends and family at the game and get to play at an arena I’ve played at a lot.”

Tickets for the event were sold out within minutes, meaning some of Reilly’s friends were unable to get them initially. The Sioux Falls native said she took all the extra tickets on the pass list, her parents have a 50-person suite and over 100 people have contacted her saying they’re going.

Nebraska volleyball is one of the biggest brands in the sport, and big crowds tend to follow. Bringing that fanfare to South Dakota is a point of pride for the former O’Gorman star.

“Everywhere we go, it’s always such a great atmosphere and most of the time the crowd’s cheering for us regardless of how far we are from Nebraska,” Reilly said. “It feels like Nebraska fans just spawn out of nowhere, but it’s been really cool to just see. Whether it’s Washington and Oregon or Rutgers, there’s people waiting outside of our bus after the game and getting to see that environment in South Dakota is going to be really special.”

That pomp and circumstance comes as volleyball has boomed as a spectator sport. The 2025 Nebraska-Texas A&M regional final averaged 1.2 million viewers on TV and peaked at 1.6 million, according to ESPN. Both are NCAA regional records.

That rise has been evident in South Dakota, with Harrisburg’s program rising to a nationally-relevant level after finishing the 2025 season at No. 8 in the AVCA/USA TODAY Super 15 poll.

“I could never imagine that volleyball would be where it is when I started volleyball and even just in middle school, like no one would have ever imagined that we sold out a football stadium and are traveling coast to coast and selling out, so it’s really cool that I could be a little part of that and I’m really happy that it’s it’s definitely getting there in South Dakota too,” Reilly said.

Reilly has become a star both in Sioux Falls and Lincoln due to her success on the court. Lots of young players look up to her, and that has led to some major buzz for her return to the Sioux Empire.

“I don’t even know if I necessarily have to handle it because for me it still feels not real that people are excited to see me or want to take a picture or want my autograph,” Reilly said. “It just feels like I’m still a high school girl that’s playing volleyball just because she loves it, so it’s really awesome that volleyball has given me these opportunities because it really is just me playing the sport that I love with some of my best friends.”

Adding to the nostalgia of the homecoming is the location. Reilly has won many tournaments, in both volleyball and basketball, on the courts at the Sanford Pentagon. She hasn’t really considered what the emotions will be like on the court early on in the game, even though it doesn’t officially count.

“I don’t know what’s going to be going through my head,” Reilly said. “I don’t know if it really feels real that I’m playing in Sioux Falls so I think that’ll take a second to sink in and I’m sure some memories will come flooding back from playing on the Pentagon floor for club tournaments and for high school volleyball and high school basketball, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot going on in my head.”

Reilly and the Cornhuskers will venture back to South Dakota for a regular-season game at South Dakota State on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in Brookings.

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Nebraska

Pinwheels, proclamation: Central Nebraska communities mark Child Abuse Prevention Month

Published

18 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Pinwheels, proclamation: Central Nebraska communities mark Child Abuse Prevention Month

GRAND ISLAND, KEARNEY, Neb. (KSNB) – Signs and pinwheels appeared around parts of Grand Island as part of Wear Blue Day, an effort to bring attention to child abuse prevention.

The Association for Child Abuse Prevention, along with Bikers Against Child Abuse and other volunteers, painted the town blue on Thursday.

In a Facebook post, the group said each pinwheel represents something bigger than all of them — a reminder of the children in the community who deserve safety, support and a voice.

The group said awareness matters, conversations matter and together they will continue to stand up for children and families impacted by abuse and neglect.

In Kearney, Mayor Jonathan Nikkila read a proclamation honoring the Family Advocacy Network (FAN) for Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Nikkila said FAN is the type of organization that is on the front lines in Kearney that most of us don’t see as much or don’t like to think can happen here.

He said FAN serves adults and children who suffer all kinds of abuse, advocating for and supporting abuse victims as they go through the law enforcement process.

Nikkila said they have an amazing heart for the people who need it the most.

Click HERE for information on child abuse and how to spot abuse or neglect by Nebraska DHHS.

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