FAIRBURY, NEB. - A southeast Nebraska man is doing a good deed for his local schools.

“I thought this was something we need to do… We don’t need to have a kid remind their parents they have a bill to pay for food.”

Cory Honold has been in sales all his life and currently works at Twin Rivers Ford in Fairbury. However, more recently, he’s been selling to local businesses to help Fairbury Public Schools. The Fairbury Jeff Chef Facebook account made a post noting a $5,000 food debt from 2023.

Honold took the initiative to help solve the problem.

“It’s been overwhelmingly positive yes’s from the businesses,” Honold said. “Some have been mad at me for not coming to see them sooner. It’s ben outmoding from $100, $200, all the way up to $500 donations."

Honold said taking care of the debt is important to him because of his own prior experiences. When working at Pfizer, Honold suffered a bus accident that made finding jobs and making money a struggle, which he says makes him feel sympathetic for those struggling financially.

“I had to start from the ground back up making hourly wages and working my way back to health and not a sales position,” Honold said. “I can understand it’s tough to make end’s meet, with the way gas prices are, cost of living, cost of food, vehicles… Some of these people, the wages haven’t gone up and some are really struggling to get by.”

With the 2024 school year underway, Honold says he continues to work towards ending the food debt. Maybe even doing that and a little more.

“People always ask me what’ll happen if I raise more money than what’s required, and I say ‘Well, I hope that happens,’ I really do,” Honold said. “Any extra funds we make are going to stay in that program so if there’s 2024 debt, well authorize them to use it for that.”