“I don't know what we would do without a community like this,” said Lena Beckner, the daughter of Phil Hennig.
On Wednesday the town of Tekamah came together for the Hennig family.
“Dad would have been ecstatic with everything,” said Beckner.
A few weeks ago, 59-year-old Phil Hennig tragically lost his life when he drove through a cloud of ammonia vapors after a pipeline burst near his Tekamah home.
“You know it takes time to heal and this will help the healing process a lot,” said Randy Olson.
Thanks to the organization by Hennig’s good friend Randy Olson and the generosity of the community, the Hennig family had help harvesting their corn this year.
“It's a huge weight lifted off our shoulders not having to worry about this anymore,” said Beckner.
Hennig’s daughter Lena Beckner was overwhelmed by the support.
“This is a huge blessing to our family. Dad would be so excited and proud and humbled,” said Beckner.
Dozens of combines, grain carts and semis showed up to help.
“It wasn't even a question of if, but it was when are we going to get together and help out Phil and get everything done,” said a farmer who helped.
And it wasn’t just a joint effort in the fields, many locals worked hard in the kitchen to keep the farmers fed.
“That's just what we do in small town rural America, you take care of your own. Whatever it takes is what you do,” said Olson.
Olson says Wednesday’s successful harvest for the Hennig family proves there is no place like home.
“You can't buy everything you want in small town rural America, but everything you need in life is here,” said Olson.
