Each year, Black Hills Energy in Lincoln, Nebraska, nominates an employee with great leadership potential to participate in the Leadership Lincoln Fellows program. Ashley Erhart, a utility construction planner, was chosen for the 2020-2021 class.

During the year-long program, fellows meet once a month to learn more about Lincoln and to develop their leadership skills. The class also prepares fellows to become engaged in their community, working in teams to select and complete a community service project. The 2021-2021 Fellows selected a food drive to benefit the local organization, We Can Do It at the F Street Community Center. We Can Do It works to meet the needs of food insecure children and families in a neighborhood south of downtown. 

Under Erhart’s leadership, a team of current and former ambassadors - Tom Dorshorst, Becky Williams, Robert Hegwood and Matt Stall - led a competition between work groups and was able to collect 1,266 pounds of food. The winning work group - the state team lead by Dorshorst – donated 439 pounds of food!

“It was a tight competition to the end and not even 75 pounds of rice could change the outcome,” said Erhart. “But the real winners are the kids in and around the F Street Community Center and We Can Do This.”

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