A different kind of bar

More often than not, it's a social gathering of friends who, over a cocktail or two, talk about politics, the weather, the stock market, the price of oil, sports, or a thousand other things. Typically these conversations are intimate, involving only two or three people, and they don't meet the stereotype mentioned in the first paragraph at all. Many of the people who frequent a particular bar know each other, along with the waitstaff and management and it's a pleasant way to wind down one's day before going home.

Most of the bars in this area meet the above criteria but one bar in particular goes the extra mile in terms of not only service to its customers, but to the community as well. Every year at this time, Old Sarge's Bar in McCook, in collaboration with the ABATE motorcycle club, selects certain families in the area who are in the midst of a bad time and they team together to give these families a Christmas to remember. They shop locally for presents to give to the children and Santa (also known as Bruce Lindquist) and his elves deliver the presents to the unsuspecting families in what Phil Miles, the manager of Old Sarge's, describes as a very emotional, heart-warming experience. The bar also accepts voluntary donations from customers who want to help in making someone's Christmas a little brighter than it would have been.

Every Thanksgiving, the owners and management put on a huge Thanksgiving dinner at the bar for anyone who wants to come and it's completely free. Phil says the numbers being served have gone up each year and this past Thanksgiving, they served over 40 people.

During Nebraska football games, meals are also served and, like Thanksgiving, there is never a charge to eat. As local bar and club owners know, when the game is on closed-circuit television, the rental fee is very expensive but at Sarge's there is no admission charge and no charge for the food one eats, regardless of how many times they fill up their plates.

The waitstaff gives Christmas Cards to their customers every Christmas. I display them proudly at home, right alongside the cards I receive from Senator Ben Nelson and Senator Chuck Hagel. Whenever it's someone's birthday or a customer or one of their family members is ill or injured, they send birthday cards and get well cards with the signatures of all the bar patrons along with their own personalized messages.

Obviously the objective of any retail business is to make a profit and that's certainly the objective at Old Sarge's, too, but it's heartwarming to see a business that is sometimes maligned by those who don't know better give back to the community it serves in so many different ways.

It really is a family down at Old Sarge's and it's emotionally pleasing, especially at this time of the year, to see a business share some of the wealth with those less fortunate. My hat is off to the owners, the management, and the waitstaff at Old Sarge's Bar for stepping up to the plate and serving the community in ways not mandated or directed by anyone else and in ways they don't have to at all but instead choose to do.

And the fact that they do all these different things because they CHOOSE to do them, rather that HAVING to do them is what volunteerism is all about.