Doug Brand Wins
Seward County Community Service Award
To Be Honored July 4th

Longtime Great Seward Area volunteer, Doug Brand was announced the recipient of the 2010 Seward County Community Service Award at the Seward Fourth of July Celebration Kick-Off Luncheon on Tuesday, June 8th at the Seward Civic Center, hosted by the Seward Chamber of Commerce.  He was surprised with the announcement and will be the guest of honor on July 4 in Seward, ride in the parade and be honored at the Governor’s Reception and recognized at the Bandshell.  He was presented a plaque by the Seward Fourth of July Celebration Committee and his name will be engraved on a plaque that hangs in the Seward Civic Center.

Doug was born and raised near Fremont, Nebraska and is the son of Myron and Anita Brand.  He is a graduate of Fremont High School 1969 and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, active in Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity and the Nebraska FFA Alumni.

Doug arrived in Seward in 1974, to serve as a County Extension Assistant for the Seward County Extension Office.  Doug is a Vice President Ag Loans at the Jones National Bank and Trust in Seward, serving the agriculture community through their Ag Department  Doug and his wife Gail were married in Seward in 1981 and live on the edge of the community, west of the St. Gregory the Great Seminary.  They have three children, Eric, Kylie and Krissy and three grandchildren Luke, Tate and Riggins. 

Doug serves as the volunteer Secretary of the Seward County Agricultural Society and is active in improving and promoting the Seward County Fair and Fairgrounds.  He was an instrumental force in promoting the building of the Seward County Ag Pavilion, the Livestock Show Pavilion, 4-H Center, the County Fair Arboretum, Arena Grandstand, the OK Corral, the 4-H Dining Hall remodeling project and most recently, the new Harvest Hall, along with the renovation of the 4-H Cottage.    He has supervised numerous improvements to the grounds of the fair and coordinates the programming for the Seward County Fair, consistently working to keep the Seward County Fair one of the top County Fairs in Nebraska.  He is an active member of the Seward United Methodist Church and serving on various church boards and councils. 

Doug is also a longtime member of the Nebraska State Fair Board and actively involved with the relocation effort of the Nebraska State Fair to Grand Island.  He is also a leader in the Nebraska Fair Manager’s State Association- the NFMA.   He is a 4-H Alum and active in the 4-H Alumni program and Seward County 4-H Foundation, also assisting and involved in the Seward County 4-H Council.  He and his wife Gail served as co-chairs of the Cattleman’s Ball in Seward County, when it was held near Milford 2006. He is active in the Seward Chamber, serves as a Seward Chamber Ambassador and previously served as the Seward Chamber of Commerce’s Treasurer.

Doug was the founder and leader of the Husker Hog 4-H Club for decades, involving many “urban children or city kids” in the experience of showing livestock and exhibiting at the County Fair, State Fair and Ak-Sar-Ben, often at his expense!  Doug is one of the area’s official Ak-Sar-Ben Ambassador representatives.  He assists with the local Boy Scout campaign and a member of the Seward High School Athletic Boosters program, working with their scholarship program.  Doug has been an active representative on the Seward Community Scholarship Board.

He is an active member of various livestock organizations in the county and state and works to promote beef and pork at every opportunity. 

His nomination read “Doug is a great guy, the kind of person that will drop everything to help you if you need it.  He is always smiling and a great organizer and creative thinker-giving us the courage to build the Seward County Ag Pavilion and developing the Seward County Fair grounds into a very popular attraction. Seward and Seward County are much better today because Doug Brand moved here.  Thanks Doug.”

The Seward County Community Service Award selection was changed by the Seward Fourth of July Celebration committee this year.  Previously, nominations were received and a ballot in the Seward County Independent allowed the community to select a winner, which was announced at the annual Kick-Off Luncheon, to be honored on the Fourth of July.

Due to a drop of numbers in the voting process and several other factors, it was decided by the Seward Fourth of July Celebration Committee to revamp the selection process for 2010.  Nominations were still received, however, a committee, with memberships representing all areas of the county, was appointed to review the nominations and rank their top nominees. There were 15 nominees for the award, one from Garland, one from Bee, one from Milford, one from Utica, two from Goehner and nine from Seward.

The votes were tallied, divided by the number of voters for the candidate and the individual with the lease amount of points when averaged, is declared the winner.  The calculations were supervised and coordinated by Helen Banzhaf and Kyle Hinkel of the SHS Math Department. 

The selection committee for the Seward County Community Service Award 2010 included Kyle Hinkel-Utica, Jan Niemeyer-Garland, Linda Luebbe-Beaver Crossing, Jo Ann Sieck-Pleasant Dale, Mitch Gabel-Bee, Angela Pfeiffer-Beaver Crossing, Lynnette Petersen-Goehner, Craig Williams-Seward, Tom Pallas-Seward and Linda Zimbelmann-Milford. 

Seward County Community Service Award Nomination Form