Thank You to our Omaha Presenters:
Steven Buer: Emcee
Simon Lowe-Weyand: Pledge & Oath
Father Ryan Lewis: Invocation
Kari & Dan Kinsella: Co-Chairs
Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger: Keynote
Rebecca Wright: Eagle Scout
Ellie Mehaffey: Eagle Scout
Chris Mehaffey: CEO & Scout Executive

Eagle Scout Movie Heroes:
Jonathan Furtado | Roadside Rescue
Mallory Larson | Exploring Aviation
Chase Cunningham | Family Legacy

Thanks to our Chairs and Steering Committee:
Kari & Dan Kinsella 
Scott Berryman 
Drew Blossom
Chloe & Tom Boyer
Rick Chochon
Scott Getzschman
Gail & Shane Graeve
Dan Hunt
Harrison Johnson
Mike S Kennedy
Bill McColgan 
Paul Olson
Tom Von Riesen
Nick Weindel

After Omaha emcee Steven Buer, Eagle Scout and former Order of the Arrow Lodge Chief for Scouting America, Mid-America Council, recognized our public service officials, military, first responders and Mid-America Council's Board of Directors, a moment of silence was shared to honor John Gottschalk's memory.
John, thank you for your many contributions and may you rest in peace. 

30 Local Metro-Omaha Scouts participated in the opening ceremonies. The Flag Procession, Pledge of Allegiance, Scout Oath, and Scout Law were led by Eagle Scout Simon Lowe-Weyand of Troop 42.

Eagle Scout Video Stories:

Guest Speaker Rebecca Wright, Mid-America Council's first female Eagle Scout shared details about her amazing journey in becoming an Eagle Scout, which she achieved in the Fall of 2020. She assisted with the establishment of Troop 1885 for girls, and currently is an Assistant Scoutmaster and UNMC PhD student in Biomedical Sciences.

Kari and Dan Kinsella, co-chairs, expressed their ties to this season's Big Give gala; their son Danny is an Eagle Scout from Unit 729 and their daughter Grace is a 2024 graduate from Notre Dame. Dan shared why Scouting Matters; Scouting provides patriotism, honor, confidence, and creates leaders of integrity ready for future employment within our area's talent pool. 
Kari instructed guests how to donate and the impact all the dollars make; Communities flourish when Scouting programs deliver essential life skills like character development, personal fitness and service to others.

Congratulations Everyone: The Kinsellas challenged us to hit a goal of over $600,000, and it was crushed!

Guest speaker Ellie Mehaffey, Eagle Scout and Elkhorn North High School Freshman shared her story from center stage. Ellie aspires to become a nurse, and she spoke about Scouting being more than camping, knots and merit badges--Scouting teaches resilience, grit, patience and how to overcome challenges. 

The Scout showcase featured a powerful keynote address from Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. He is the Notre Dame Football walk-on player with 27 seconds of glory against Georgia Tech in 1975, and inspiration for the 1993 movie RUDY. Rudy delivered words of encouragement, how to work hard, invest in yourself, reminders to really earn it so you're ready when opportunities present themselves. Also, how to persevere and be resilient with positivity when adversity strikes.

After Dan Kinsella led the robust repeating chant of RU-DY RU-DY RU-DY, Rudy entered the stage during a montage of clips from his life and the movie RUDY. When Rudy spoke, he opened with, "Yes, I am the real Rudy!" Rudy's other keynote videos were of Justin Heckathorn's pursuit to fully tour Notre Dame's football field (by crawling sans wheelchair despite his diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy to the center of the gridiron) and Kobe Bryant's interview where Kobe attributes his basketball career success and winning attitude to the film RUDY.

Rudy's keynote presentation was live only (Omaha in-person and live-streamed to Fort Dodge, Sioux City and Kearney/Grand Island). No recording of Rudy's speech is permissible to share per his contract terms.

Thank YOU for supporting Scouting's Character Luncheon!

• Scouting America's Mid-America Council serves 8,000 Scout Youth across 102 counties in Western Iowa and Nebraska; thanks to you, we are on track to serve 20,000 Scout Youth by 2027!
   
• You are directly supporting operations, camps and supplies for 352 Scouting units throughout the Midlands
   
• Ten Scouts will attend Summer Camp at no charge in honor of each Big Give presenter via Scouting's Campership Program

SATELLITE SUCCESS
NW Iowa District in Fort Dodge would like to recognize: Emcee Dave Flattery who is the President of Availa Bank, Chaplain Mike Crawford of First Covenant Church for his Invocation-Benediction, and Guest Speaker Mark Thompson, Representative in the Iowa House District 56 and Retired Major from the United States Marine Corps.

Overland Trails Territory in Western Nebraska would like to thank everyone for supporting Scouting at our Kearney satellite location: Emcee City of Kearney Mayor Stan Clouse, Pastor and longtime Scouter Greg Clark for God's blessing & invocation, guest speaker Pete Kotsiopulos, distinguished Eagle Scout with inspirational stories of how Scouting leads to success, and to guest speaker State Senator John Lowe on how Scouting impacts our communities.

Sioux City Iowa would like to thank special guests: Mayor of Sioux City Bob Scott, The Sioux City Bandits Football Team, Warpath from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the Bugg Family: Scouts Tyler, Rylan & Lauren Bugg for sharing their Scouting Stories, the Salmen Family of The Warehouse, Aggies Catering and The Sioux City Conservatory of Music.