((PKG)) STUDENT-RUN GROCERY STORE
((Banner: Access - Groceries))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Cody, Nebraska))
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
We'd have to go to Valentine for ice cream. So, we'd have to go
40 miles [64 km].
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
It’s nice to not have to drive 40 miles [64 km] to get some sort of
groceries or supplies. If you are, you know, before you had to
stock up. Just depended on who you are. Some people went to
town every couple of weeks, some once a month. We went to
Gordon once a month. It’s 90 miles [145 km] to get groceries.
Lot of folks don't realize how rural it is. So, the folks that live
south but have kids that come to school here, they can have their
kids pick something up and take home if they needed or
whatever. So, that it's a nice addition.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
We hadn't had a grocery store in 15 years or so, in Cody. If your
kids are going to school here in Cody and you come for a
basketball game and you've already driven 40 miles to get here
and you still can't get groceries, then you have to travel an
additional.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other choices.
They were going to other areas for school. We have a lot of
towns along Highway 20 here that there's a few buildings left.
The churches are disappearing. The stores have all disappeared.
The gas stations have disappeared. You've lost your schools.
You've lost your banks. You've lost a lot of the main businesses.
So that's the fear, you know. ((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
There was just that little bit of a questionable, what are we going
to do? What's going to happen if we don't get busy? My name is
Rocky Richards and I have been Chair of the village board for
three years. Some of those schools that haven't survived, have
probably taken the town with them. And that's a sad, sad fact.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Cody-Kilgore was in a down cycle, not many students. We
weren't short of students but we didn't have near as many as what
we would have liked. One in-service superintendent had said,
“You know, if we don't do something, in four years we might not
be here. So, do you want to plan for that? Or do you want to plan
to survive?” You know, you kind of hated to hear that comment
coming from the superintendent, but at the same time it was kind
of the kick in the seat of the pants we needed.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
It was the brainchild of two teachers and they were just kind of
joking and said, “We should build a grocery store.” That is
something that would draw people to sending their children to
Cody-Kilgore schools. It would draw people to want to come to
Cody so it doesn't just eliminate itself off the map.
((NATS))
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
This is our classroom. When we get off the van, we will load into
here and if you're taking like marketing, management, accounting,
business law, you'll stay in here. If you're taking work-based
learning, you will go out to the floor and do whatever is needed.
As you can see in here, it's a little more than just the classroom.
It's kind of the storage area also. We have our grocery special
orders…..
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
It's a student run store. Students come down for classes. They
also have work-based learning. They handle a lot of the day-to-
day organizational things. So, we don't have payroll during the
day. Their time is a huge contributing factor for the success of the
store.
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
When we come to take classes here, we'll get off our van that the
school will take us on and then we will come into the classroom,
sit and Mrs. Shelbourne will come in, let us know what
everybody's job is. Your job can be like one person can be
running the register that hour. They can be learning how to count
their change and check people out, doing the basics. Other
people will like clean, stock the coolers, freezers, whatever they
need to.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
Prior to getting it up off the ground, people put in tons and tons of
hours trying to figure out how this was going to work, where the
funding was going to come from, applying for things, trying to
make plans.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Once it looked like the store was going to become a reality and
the community got behind it, people showed up. Ah, gobs of
people showed up. Kids showed up. When they started building
the frame, putting in the bales, stuccoing, painting, you could go
past any day and see a wide variety of ages out here working on
it. Cost of the building would have been way, way more if we'd
had to pay for labor.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
I think it’s helped stop the decline. You talk to other people and
they're shopping here. So, they come for shopping. They might
stop and get gas. They go across the street to the feed store,
downtown to the bar and grill, the bank, maybe stop in at the
school if they have kids there, get a haircut. You know they're
coming to town and if they're coming to town, somebody might
think that's a good place to put a new business in because it's not
seen as a town that’s may be dying or fading away. It's seen as a
town that has a little bit of vitality going on.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
School enrollment has increased. We're at some of the highest
levels that Cody-Kilgore has ever had. Younger people are
coming to town and hoping to be able to raise their families here
and attend school here. This has worked pretty well with
integrating the education with the grocery store.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Our little motto is A Town Too Tough To Die. If it wasn't for the
community people that wanted Cody to survive and had that
attitude that we're too tough to die, we probably would have died.
((NATS))
((Banner: Access - Groceries))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Cody, Nebraska))
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
We'd have to go to Valentine for ice cream. So, we'd have to go
40 miles [64 km].
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
It’s nice to not have to drive 40 miles [64 km] to get some sort of
groceries or supplies. If you are, you know, before you had to
stock up. Just depended on who you are. Some people went to
town every couple of weeks, some once a month. We went to
Gordon once a month. It’s 90 miles [145 km] to get groceries.
Lot of folks don't realize how rural it is. So, the folks that live
south but have kids that come to school here, they can have their
kids pick something up and take home if they needed or
whatever. So, that it's a nice addition.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
We hadn't had a grocery store in 15 years or so, in Cody. If your
kids are going to school here in Cody and you come for a
basketball game and you've already driven 40 miles to get here
and you still can't get groceries, then you have to travel an
additional.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other choices.
They were going to other areas for school. We have a lot of
towns along Highway 20 here that there's a few buildings left.
The churches are disappearing. The stores have all disappeared.
The gas stations have disappeared. You've lost your schools.
You've lost your banks. You've lost a lot of the main businesses.
So that's the fear, you know. ((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
There was just that little bit of a questionable, what are we going
to do? What's going to happen if we don't get busy? My name is
Rocky Richards and I have been Chair of the village board for
three years. Some of those schools that haven't survived, have
probably taken the town with them. And that's a sad, sad fact.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Cody-Kilgore was in a down cycle, not many students. We
weren't short of students but we didn't have near as many as what
we would have liked. One in-service superintendent had said,
“You know, if we don't do something, in four years we might not
be here. So, do you want to plan for that? Or do you want to plan
to survive?” You know, you kind of hated to hear that comment
coming from the superintendent, but at the same time it was kind
of the kick in the seat of the pants we needed.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
It was the brainchild of two teachers and they were just kind of
joking and said, “We should build a grocery store.” That is
something that would draw people to sending their children to
Cody-Kilgore schools. It would draw people to want to come to
Cody so it doesn't just eliminate itself off the map.
((NATS))
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
This is our classroom. When we get off the van, we will load into
here and if you're taking like marketing, management, accounting,
business law, you'll stay in here. If you're taking work-based
learning, you will go out to the floor and do whatever is needed.
As you can see in here, it's a little more than just the classroom.
It's kind of the storage area also. We have our grocery special
orders…..
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
It's a student run store. Students come down for classes. They
also have work-based learning. They handle a lot of the day-to-
day organizational things. So, we don't have payroll during the
day. Their time is a huge contributing factor for the success of the
store.
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
When we come to take classes here, we'll get off our van that the
school will take us on and then we will come into the classroom,
sit and Mrs. Shelbourne will come in, let us know what
everybody's job is. Your job can be like one person can be
running the register that hour. They can be learning how to count
their change and check people out, doing the basics. Other
people will like clean, stock the coolers, freezers, whatever they
need to.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
Prior to getting it up off the ground, people put in tons and tons of
hours trying to figure out how this was going to work, where the
funding was going to come from, applying for things, trying to
make plans.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Once it looked like the store was going to become a reality and
the community got behind it, people showed up. Ah, gobs of
people showed up. Kids showed up. When they started building
the frame, putting in the bales, stuccoing, painting, you could go
past any day and see a wide variety of ages out here working on
it. Cost of the building would have been way, way more if we'd
had to pay for labor.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
I think it’s helped stop the decline. You talk to other people and
they're shopping here. So, they come for shopping. They might
stop and get gas. They go across the street to the feed store,
downtown to the bar and grill, the bank, maybe stop in at the
school if they have kids there, get a haircut. You know they're
coming to town and if they're coming to town, somebody might
think that's a good place to put a new business in because it's not
seen as a town that’s may be dying or fading away. It's seen as a
town that has a little bit of vitality going on.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-Kilgore High
School))
School enrollment has increased. We're at some of the highest
levels that Cody-Kilgore has ever had. Younger people are
coming to town and hoping to be able to raise their families here
and attend school here. This has worked pretty well with
integrating the education with the grocery store.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Our little motto is A Town Too Tough To Die. If it wasn't for the
community people that wanted Cody to survive and had that
attitude that we're too tough to die, we probably would have died.
((NATS))
