NCCFF photo

NEBRASKA CITY - The Nebraska City Community Foundation Fund has selected Bryan and Kelly Bequette as the 2024 philanthropists of the year.

Foundation Fund advisory committee member Brooke Chaney said the Bequettes embody the values of the foundation.

Chaney: “The Bequettes are trusted, caring leaders who have created a lasting legacy of collaboration and community involvement. They remind us that philanthropy is about giving to the people and places we love.”

The foundation recognizes Bryan Bequette for his work on city government and Kelly for her service on the Nebraska City Area Economic Development Board and her leadership with the downtown flower baskets and Nebraska City Creative District.

She said economic and cultural development are important for rural communities.

Bequette: “We need a good quality of life to get our children to move back home. The Creative District was designed to bring new business in, support our current businesses and enhance the quality of life for our citizens.”

 Here is the NCCFF press release

 

Bryan & Kelly Bequette Named NCCFF’s 2024 Philanthropists of the Year

By Nancy Feeney

NCCFF Communications Director

Bryan Bequette and his wife Kelly share a common ambition to make Nebraska City the kind of community people want to make their permanent home . . . a place to raise a family, build a career and, eventually, retire.

The Bequette’s drive to achieve this is the reason the Nebraska City Community Foundation Fund (NCCFF) selected them as its 2024 Philanthropists of the Year.

“These two remarkable people embody Nebraska City Community Foundation Fund’s values of Trustworthy, Caring, and Collaborative,” said Foundation Advisory Committee member Brooke Chaney when she presented this award at NCCFF’s annual meeting in early November. “Together, they have secured grants, built partnerships, and created opportunities that benefit all of us.”

“The Bequettes are trusted, caring leaders who have created a lasting legacy of collaboration and community involvement,” Brooke said. “They remind us that philanthropy is about giving to the people and places we love.”

Originally from Los Alamos, NM, Bryan joined the Army in 1981 and did ROTC at Eastern New Mexico University, where he earned his bachelor’s in mathematics. When he met Kelly 11 years later, he was a company commander and an Army helicopter pilot just back from Desert Storm and stationed at Fort Riley, Junction City, KS.

A Peru, NE, native, Kelly majored in math at Peru State University. She was working on her graduate degree in counseling and college administration and was teaching as a Kansas State University graduate student when she met Bryan in 1992. They married a year later. Bryan went on to get a Master’s in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University in DC. 

In 2008, Bryan and Kelly selected Nebraska City as the place they wanted to settle and raise their family. Exiting the military after serving 26 years, Bryan became the Deputy Chief of Field Operations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In 2012, Kelly opened the Keeping Room restaurant. In 2014, both Bryan and Kelly graduated from Leadership Nebraska City, Class #9. Later that year, Bryan was elected mayor of Nebraska City.

In his ten years as mayor, Bryan has put his organizational skills to use collaborating with city departments and committees to advance projects that will enhance the town’s infrastructure. He works with the City Council and is also on the Economic Development Board and the CHI Community Board. On the state level, he is on the League of Nebraska Municipalities, where he is president- elect, which means he will be president in 2026.

Kelly works with community leaders who want to make Nebraska City a beautiful place to call home.  She has been on the Nebraska City Area Economic Development Board since 2013.

To beautify downtown Nebraska City, ten years ago Kelly worked with Joe Grimm and DeAnn Michel of Grimm’s Gardens to acquire a 10-year-grant to get the flower baskets installed along Central Ave. in the downtown Nebraska City area. Concrete bump outs with planting spaces were added four years ago.

Kelly worked with others to get even more grants to maintain the flower baskets and bump outs along Central Ave. Support money came from business donations as well as grants from the Wirth Foundation and Nebraska City Growth Funds.

Kelly joined the Nebraska City Creative District, which was certified in 2023. “Legislation a few years before gave money to create economic and cultural development to small, rural communities that were struggling to build up their towns and bring the youth back home,” she said.

“We need a good quality of life to get our children to move back home,” Kelly said. “The Creative District was designed to bring new business in, support our current businesses and enhance the quality of life for our citizens.”

The Bequettes have three children: Sons Blake and Michael and daughter Taylor. They have two grandchildren, Ignatius and Winifred, with a third on the way in March.