A proposed bronze would feature the future Sen. Ben Nelson receiving his Eagle Scout pin. (Courtesy)

A community, through its support, caring, vision, and love, can have a huge impact on an individual throughout his or her life. An individual, through his or her support, caring, vision, and love, can have a huge impact on a community -- not only throughout that individual's lifetime, but also afterward. Those were the messages that resonated at the 2008 McCook Community Foundation banquet Thursday night.

Sen. Ben Nelson, who was one of the leading proponents of community foundations during his time as governor, was a special guest for the event. The foundation is heading up the effort to place a sculpture of Nelson as a young man, along with his parents, receiving his Eagle Scout pin in front of the Nelson home on Norris Avenue.

According to Nelson, "you learn your values where you are born and raised and from the people around you." He went on to explain that he felt very fortunate to grow up in a community that cares, as evidenced by community support for programs in McCook like the Boy Scouts, YMCA, and strong schools. He is enthusiastic about the sculpture project because it symbolizes the community effort it takes to achieve a goal.

"You can achieve whatever you set out to achieve, but you don't do it by yourself," said Nelson. Working on an Eagle Scout project taught Nelson a lesson he has taken with him throughout his career in politics. "It taught me how to finish something I started," said Nelson.

Not that finishing that Eagle Scout project was easy. His parents, Birdella and Benjamin, did a lot of "encouraging" along the way. "My parents rode me hard. At the time, I was more into fumes -- gas fumes and perfumes. My mother threatened to wear the Eagle Scout badge in an effort to provoke me into finishing the project. Those of you who remember my mother know what I'm talking about," Nelson said.

The sculpture is being created by Jon Leitner, a McCook High School graduate who also helped in the creation of the George Norris statute.

The goal of the McCook Community Foundation is that the project will remind citizens of how the community has nurtured its leaders and serve as a tribute to the strong role that families play in the development of its youth.

More than $25,000 was awarded to area causes and organizations by the McCook Community Foundation.

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Other community gifts awarded at the banquet include:

$850 -- McCook Hometown Competiveness Youth Task Force Challenge

$1,000 -- Republican Valley Archery Club

$1,650 -- Kelly Creek Walking Trail

$2,500 -- Fox Theater Renovation Project

$1,500 -- Nelson Sculpture Project from the C.T. and Helen Jewell Endowment

$1,200 -- Cambridge Memorial Hospital from the Don & Alice Harpst Endowment

$1,200 -- Hillcrest Nursing Home from the Don & Alice Harpst Endowment

$600 -- Memorial United Methodist Church from the Don & Alice Harpst Endowment

$7,500 -- McCook Hometown Competitive Youth Task Force from the Andy and Geri Anderson Endowment

$7,500 -- Hillcrest Homegrown Staff Education Program from the Andy and Geri Anderson Endowment

The foundation also presented a $1,000 scholarship to Shalee Roundtree from the Nelda and Bernard Haag scholarship fund. Shalee is a 2008 graduate of Dundy County High School who attends the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis. In thanking the foundation and Mrs. Haag, Shalee stated that she hopes to return to the area after her college career and make the same type of investment in the future of her community someday.

Peter Peterson, past chairman of the board for the Greater Salina Community Foundation in Salina, Kan., shared his personal experiences as an attorney with clients who wished to share their wealth.

Peterson outlined a lot of the perceptions people have about giving to charities, using as examples the retired widow who donated a considerable sum to the "pew pencil fund" at her church and the wealthy businessman who ended up "donating" a large sum to the U.S. government upon his death.