After years of effort, Hotel Garber opens in Red Cloud, Nebraska: Short Takes

The event bookended more than eight years of planning, fundraising and construction that helped rehabilitate an empty historic commercial building into a boutique hotel and event center.

Leaders from the National Willa Cather Center, City of Red Cloud, Red Cloud Community Fund and Red Cloud Heritage Tourism Development began studying the feasibility of a new hotel in Red Cloud nine years ago.

An economic development study had recommended that a significant expansion of local lodging options, an increased number of dining options and an expansion of customized experiential services could significantly grow the local economy and create jobs.

Red Cloud is home to the National Willa Cather Center and hosts visitors from an average of 40 states and five countries annually.

Following a market feasibility study that indicated the community could support up to a 30-room hotel, leaders opted not to acquire land and construct a modern new building. Instead, they selected the downtown 1902 Potter-Wright building for rehabilitation. The transformative adaptive reuse of the building that formerly housed retail, offices and apartments was desirable to continue downtown revitalization efforts that spanned the last 20-plus years. An eyesore at the corner of two major intersecting highways, the Potter building had been vacant and decaying for more than 25 years, and its third flood was lost to fire in 1961.

Work on the building spanned more than 27 months. Many architectural details and ornamental features have been replicated.

The hotel’s name is a nod to Silas and Lyra Garber, who served as models for Captain and Mrs. Forrester in Willa Cather’s 1923 novel, “A Lost Lady.”

Now joined with the center’s preserved Farmers and Merchants Bank next door, the two buildings share an elevator to provide visitors with access to a new permanent exhibit, Making a Place: A Long History of Red Cloud. The exhibit chronicles the history of the community, including the Pawnee Tribe’s homelands, the town’s founding, and its intersections with Cather’s life and art.

Hotel Garber provides 27 rooms for guests, including a two-bedroom, two bathroom loft; a lobby with a small reading nook; and library, and a spacious dining and lounge area. More than 70 historic photos of Red Cloud’s early citizens and businesses are on display. A street-level stairwell has been restored for lower-level entry into the Red Cloud Creative Hub.

The Creative Hub consists of two spacious multipurpose rooms that will provide space for readings, workshops, art classes, meetings and residencies.

As an important keystone of the collective mission to grow heritage tourism in Red Cloud around the life and literary legacy of Cather, the Hotel Garber project raised more than $7 million in charitable gifts and grants. Paired with an estimated $1 million in Nebraska Historic Tax Credits, total funds secured from all sources is more than $8 million. The campaign is now within $230,000 of reaching its goal.

Habitat to help repair

Sarpy, Cass homes

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha has secured funding to repair nearly 60 homes in Sarpy and Cass Counties in 2025. This follows the successful completion of repairs on 21 homes in 2024.

Habitat Omaha has prioritized critical home repairs to help maintain affordable housing stock.

“Critical home repairs are essential to ensuring that our community’s affordable housing stock remains safe, healthy and livable,” Habitat Omaha Area Director Ken Mar said. “By supporting homeowners with necessary repairs, we are not only improving their quality of life but also helping to preserve the integrity of neighborhoods across Sarpy and Cass Counties.”

Habitat Omaha offers qualified families or individuals no-interest loans to pay for improvements, even if they don’t own a Habitat Omaha-built home. Qualifications include demonstrating the ability to repay, having homeowners’ insurance upon project completion and holding a clear title to the property. The financing allows homeowners to spread the expense over one to 10 years to make them affordable.

Habitat Omaha serves as the general contractor, hiring only trusted subcontractors. The program partners with homeowners on various projects, from critical to minor repairs, including furnaces, air conditioning, water heaters, windows and doors, plumbing, electrical systems, tree trimming, and exterior structures, such as siding repair or accessibility updates.

For more information or to apply for the Home Repair Program, visit habitatomaha.org/home-repair.

Greater Good raises $475,997 in one day

During a 24-hour period, the 2025 For the Greater Good, a giving day to support the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine, 2,135 gifts were made, raising $475,997 to fuel the future of health care in Nebraska. The number of gifts set a record for the third annual giving day.

“The health and wellness of our fellow Nebraskans is at the heart of everything we do at UNMC,” said H. Dele Davies, MD, UNMC’s interim chancellor. “That’s why the response to this year’s For the Greater Good campaign is so humbling.”

Supporters committed more than $200,000 for challenges and matching gifts to inspire others to give during the third annual giving day.

The giving day included 131 areas to support, including departmental funds within Nebraska Medicine, patient care, research, nearly 50 recognized student organizations at UNMC and student scholarships. UNMC’s education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in Nebraska.

Corporate Games will return in August

The Omaha Corporate Games are set to return August through October 2025, offering a dynamic lineup of competitive and recreational events for businesses across the Omaha metro area.

Organized by the Nebraska Sports Council, the games promote physical activity and wellness in the workplace while fostering teamwork, company pride and community connection.

This year’s event lineup includes a mix of in-person and virtual opportunities designed to engage employees of all interests and skill levels. Companies will compete in events such as bowling, cornhole, disc golf, golf scramble, pickleball, pocket billiards, volleyball and a trivia challenge. A canned food drive adds a chance to give back, while the Virtual 5K and cycling events make it easy to stay active on your own schedule.

The Omaha Corporate Games give companies a platform to build camaraderie, boost morale and celebrate healthy competition. Participating organizations earn points through both participation and performance, all in pursuit of the coveted Omaha Corporate Games Title Belt. It’s a fun and meaningful way to invest in employee well-being and represent your workplace on a citywide stage.

The deadline to sign up is June 15, so don’t miss your chance to get in on the action! For more information or to register, visit OmahaCorporateGames.com.

Benson High to add 9 to Hall of Fame

A meet and greet and ceremony will be held April 25 for the people being inducted into the Benson High School Hall of Fame.

Five distinguished graduates, two booster graduates and two boosters will be honored at the 45th annual Hall of Fame installation. The event at the school library starts with the meet and greet at 5:30 p.m. and the ceremony at 6:30.

Distinguished graduates: Dr. Paul Marquard, class of 1976, University Science, Math and Engineering Professor, Casper, Wyoming; David Nabity, class of 1976, president/owner, Nabity Business Advisors, Omaha; Jay Meneely, class of 1977, founder/CEO Lifetime Financial Inc. & Founder/CEO Lifetime Insurance Inc., Omaha; Martin “Marty” Ramm, DVM, class of 1981, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine/owner of Rockbrook Animal Clinic, Omaha; Cameron Bruett, class of 1993, Head of Corporate Affairs, JBS Foods USA, Omaha.

Outstanding boosters: David Hodgens, 1975, Booster graduate-coach/founder “Jr. Running Rabbits,” Omaha; Cheri Harris, class of 1981, booster graduate — Benson High Volunteer, Omaha; Lonnie Tapp, booster, former Benson High coach, Omaha; Tom Wagner, booster, former Benson High principal, Omaha.

To reserve a place before Friday, contact Karen Gardner at 402-457-5095 or email gardnerkaren@cox.net. Use BHS HOF Reserve in the subject line.

Loveland Garden Club, Arboretum r

ecognized

The Loveland Garden Club, along with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, was recognized by Gov. Jim Pillen with a proclamation that is part of a national effort by the Garden Club of America to increase awareness of the important role native plants play in our ecosystems.

The Garden Club of America and its local chapter, the Loveland Garden Club, support federal, state and local efforts that promote awareness and conservation of native species, specifically those listed as rare, endangered or threatened.

They also encourage landowners to increase native habitat through replacement of lawn areas with native plant ecosystems, support measures to prevent and limit ecosystem damage and encourage public land-use policies that incorporate native plants, control invasive plants, discourage the use of toxic pesticides, leading to the preservation and restoration of healthy ecosystems.

First principal of Mercy dies

Sister Johanna Burnell, the former president of Mercy High School in Omaha, died March 28 in Omaha. She was 86.

Born Rita Imelda Burnell in Kansas City, Missouri, she was named the first president of Mercy in 1988. The school, founded in 1955, was struggling at the time with declining enrollment and in danger of being closed. During her 21 years of leadership, Sister Johanna increased fundraising efforts and recruited business leaders and alumnae to the board of directors.

She revamped the school’s negotiated tuition program, which enabled hundreds of students to enroll whose families otherwise would have been unable to afford the cost. The negotiated tuition program has become a successful and enduring legacy of the school.

Sister Johanna also served as the development director for Mercy Volunteer Corps, a one-year volunteer service program for recent college graduates. She was a member of the Mercy Secondary Education Association, and served on the boards of the College of St. Mary in Omaha and Mt. Saint Mary Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Christ the King is holding reunion

Christ the King School is celebrating 70 years of Catholic education with a May 4 reunion celebration that is open to all

.

The school will be honoring alumni of classes from 1955 to 2025 at a noon Mass with a reception following in the Parish Center, 654 S. 86th St.

School tours will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information follow ctkomaha on Facebook and Instagram.

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