By Phil Lee
The spotlight of community partnerships shone brightly once again when Seward County Community College received a generous donation from National Beef Packing Company on Monday.
SCCC was presented with a $50,000 check by National Beef Packing to help with expenses incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. The expenses included but were not limited to the purchases of facemasks, improvements to computer infrastructure and plexiglass partitions.
“It’s wonderful to have partners like National Beef in the community,” said SCCC President Ken Trzaska. “Their generosity and support for our full community is inspiring. We’re grateful for National Beef in supporting (Seward County Community College) and our mission and helping us get through some of the issues we’ve had to face through Covid-19. It’s very meaningful to have a partner like National Beef.”
Dennis Boyles, general manager of the plant in Liberal, echoed Trzaska’s sentiments.
“We feel it’s very important to support our local schools,” Boyles said. “Ken and I have developed a relationship over the last few years. (The college) is willing to do anything for us and (National Beef) is willing to do anything for them. It’s been a real good relationship.”
This is not the first time that SCCC and National Beef have worked together during the pandemic. Just as the outbreak was taking hold, National Beef reached out to the college to help with the cutting of plexiglass into partitions so social distancing could be implemented expeditiously at the plant’s facilities.
“We were one of the first large beef packing plants to have (the partitions) up and only with the college’s help were we able to do that,” Boyles said. “We felt the college made a difference for us and we hope we can make a difference for them.”
“It’s important that we help each other in a time of crisis,” Trzaska said of responding to National Beef’s request. “There was no hesitation on our part to help a member of the community. It was the right thing to do and I’m sure they would have done the same if the roles were reversed.”
