Burki and St. Mary Altar Society Members Donate Food, Water to Firefighters in Western Nebraska

On Wednesday, March 18, Marlin Burki and his wife, Cindy, of Tecumseh drove about five hours to the community of Brady in Arthur County. That night, the Burkis planned to feed the firefighters of Brady, Morrill and other surrounding communities with 16 to 20 gallons of shredded pork, which were donated by Sam's Club on Highway 2 in Lincoln, with the approval of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the direction of Amanda Burki, assistant emergency manager for Lancaster County.
On Tuesday, March 17, Marlin picked up 22 dozen buns donated by Rotella’s in Omaha. Burki spent Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning cooking the pork. The meat was then shredded to fill four stainless steel containers. Burki said he cooked enough meat to serve over 200 firefighters and other volunteers involved in fighting the wildfires in Arthur County.
Burki grew up in the Brady area and still knows some of the people living in that region. He added that Arthur County consists of 30 miles by 30 miles of land with a population of approximately 400 residents. At one time, Burki served as a firefighter for the community of Grant, which is located about 20 miles from Ogallala.
In addition to Burki's donation of cooked shredded pork, members of the Altar Society at St. Mary's Catholic Church in St. Mary responded to an email from Terry Kerr to assist in the baking of 20 dozen packages of cookie dough donated by Tecumseh Central Market. The Dollar General store in Tecumseh donated several packages of chips and six cases of bottled water.
Although the ground is dry in western Nebraska, Burki is hoping that the firefighters of Arthur County will be able to contain the wildfires in that area quickly if the wind changes direction.
“When emergencies happen, everything stops. I know what kind of fires they are dealing with and this is one way I can give these firefighters some relief after a long day of fighting fires,” Burki concluded.