Bob Jenner, Kimball, NE
For decades as the oil and gas industry has gone so too has Kimball, Nebraska. The small town lies in the northwest corner of the state and has seen booms and busts come and go. But in the last year Kimball has invited a new industry into its back yard: wind. Turbines have sprung up north of the city and with them has come a new influx of workers who have brought their dollars to Kimball's Main Street. "It's had a really big impact on the whole town, especially with the food, the shopping," says Rod Horton of the Kimball's Chamber of Commerce.
James Schnell, the Mayor of Kimball, notes that the influx in workers, many of whom now call the town their permanent home, has been a stabilizing force in the town's volatile economy. "The majority of us business owners have been given at least a 35 percent increase in revenues that we would not have seen this year," says Schnell.
But the impact the wind industry has had on Kimball goes beyond stabilizing the economy. It has just as much to do with becoming part of the community. "The wind energy people more than doubled the community's giving so that we were able to give 63 food baskets to less fortunate families over the holidays," says Kimball resident Bob Jenner. Now the turbines are up, the wind is blowing and the small town of Kimball keeps on going.
