Nebraska couple fulfills dream in Hesston

Sid and Peg Burkey waited 33 years to fulfill their dream of doing voluntary service after their marriage.

But they and Hesston College are glad the dream finally became a reality.

In May, the Burkeys, from Dorchester, Neb., completed two years as part-time volunteers at Hesston College.

During the first year, they spent two weeks every month serving at the college, while the second year found them traveling to Hesston one week a month.

The idea began during the winter of 2006 when Hesston College President Howard Keim and his wife, Tami, stayed overnight at the Burkey home.

“They asked about our future plans,” Sid said. “We responded that we were trying to plug into a voluntary service opportunity but weren’t having much luck finding a fit.”

Peg picked up the story.

“I jokingly asked, ‘You wouldn’t have something for us at Hesston College, would you?’”

“Howard took the question seriously,” Sid said, “and indicated he’d explore it. He put together a list of needs he saw on campus, and we listed how our skills might be useful for the college. We pulled the lists together and saw that it just might work.”

“It was like a light bulb came on,” Peg said. “It felt good to us,” Sid added.

So in April 2006, the Burkeys began spending two weeks each month on campus.

Peg worked primarily in Student Life, with administrative assistant Brenda Wenger as her boss.

“That was a big attraction for me,” Peg said. “We had been youth sponsors at our home congregation, Bellwood Mennonite Church, Milford, Neb., when Brenda (Steckly) was in high school. It has been a neat blessing to deepen that friendship. We worked as peers, and it felt like we had come full circle.”

‘The cutting edge’

“The flexibility to fit in and use our skills was important,” Peg said.

“Our assignments at Hesston College fit our entrepreneurial spirit,” Sid said. “We enjoy being on the cutting edge of new ideas and trying new things.”

Sid, a 1970 grad of Hesston, served as special assistant to Keim, assisting Keim and the seven-member Administrative Council in issues of development, growth and capacity building.

One specific task that brought fulfillment for Sid was exploring the possibility of starting a women’s soccer program.

“I did an analysis, asking the question, ‘Does it fit the mission of Hesston College, and can we find the students who have a great values fit with our campus community?’

“I also explored whether the program made sense financially,” he said. “All the answers came back yes. We also confirmed with other colleges that women’s soccer fit on their campuses.”

After a successful 6-6 record last fall, the team will begin its second season under coach Kurt Hostetler this fall.

Recently, Sid began some institutional research, observing how peer institutions — Mennonite and other — flourish, searching for learnings that might apply at Hesston College.

“We’re discovering some good things,” Sid said. “We’ve also uncovered some opportunities for me to continue on a project-by-project basis that could help the college with its long-term strategic plan.”

Hurdles to clear

The Burkeys had hurdles to clear before volunteering at Hesston College.

For a time, Sid’s entrepreneurial expertise meant involvement in three businesses — Danbred North America, a leading swine genetics company with international scope; Burkey Farms, a fourth-generation family farm focused on crop and pork production; and Digitec, an innovative software and hardware development company.

“We sold our interests in Danbred NA in 2004, which eliminated one big ball to juggle,” Sid said, “and gave us room to think about stepping back and volunteering.

“My role at Digitec was more strategic,” Sid noted, “making it easier to reduce my role there. We then focused our energies on building a leadership team for Burkey Farms that we had confidence in.

“We also had to consider how we could temporarily step back from our church involvements,” Sid said. “I chair our board of elders, and I didn’t want the board or the church to suffer.”

After discussion and prayer, the church board gave its blessing to the experiment, with Sid being home as much as possible for board meetings and being available for any crisis.

“We also appointed a co-chair to cover in my absence if I couldn’t be reached.”

Peg’s main responsibility at Bellwood has been serving on the worship planning team and playing piano for the worship team.

“Being gone was OK, since I could call and check in. I was still pretty involved in worship-planning and music,” Peg said.

Peg maintained her role on the conference council of Central Plains Mennonite Conference, which included planning for the conference’s annual meeting.

She also continued chairing the conference’s congregational ministries committee, and served on the Discipleship, Evangelism and Outreach board, a service program for young adults, until it morphed into Radical Journey during the past year.

Peg said today’s technology made the transition to volunteering at Hesston College easier.

“Keeping in contact by e-mail or cell phone was easy,” she said. “We also could be involved part-time in our business and church because we were close enough — within a 3.5 hour drive — to commute back and forth as needed.”

While in Hesston, Peg continued her accounting role in the family farm by using an online accounting system.

Sid and Peg listed many benefits from their two years of volunteering.

“The main thing was the relationships we formed — deep close friendships with students, faculty and staff,” Peg said. “I enjoyed my interaction with students while working in Student Life. Getting to know a few of them better was rewarding.”

‘The Hesston

experience’

“Our time here the past two years reminded me again of ‘the Hesston experience,’” Sid said, “something my brother and I, our three children, and our nieces and nephews each valued.”

The Burkeys’ oldest son, Matt, graduated in 1998, then worked as resident director of Kauffman Court from 2000 to ‘02. Anna graduated in 2000, while Jed graduated in 2002; both served as resident assistants as sophomores.

“I didn’t attend Hesston College,” Peg added, “but I understand ‘the Hesston experience’ much better now.

“I enjoyed the variety of working in several departments — Student Life, Development, and Alumni and Church Relations,” Peg said. “I never got bored, and I got to know the people and learned what they do.”

“The depth of relationships and the sense of community,” Sid said, “reminded me what it was like as a student. We often joked as we pulled off Interstate-135 at the Hesston exit that now we were arriving at our ‘Home Sweet Away from Home.’”

“In these two years,” Keim said, “they have been a source of encouragement and blessing to us. Both Sid and Peg have entered fully into the life of Hesston College and will be missed. We plan for them to continue to be involved as they’re able.”