Knocking down barriers for youth in Borger and Lima

When one group of Nutrien employees teams up to knock down accessibility barriers for youth in their community, that’s a heart-warming story. But when that happens twice in a one-month period in two towns hundreds of miles apart, that’s a trend.

That’s exactly what happened earlier this fall in Borger, Texas and Lima, Ohio: Nitrogen employees saw a need, and stepped up to address it. That’s no coincidence, says Rose Lecky, Director, Community Relations and Investment.

“Nutrien’s commitment to our communities isn’t just words, and it’s not just a corporate strategy, it’s fundamental to who we are – as individuals and collectively, across the organization,” she says. “These projects in Borger and Lima make that clear. I want to thank and congratulate both teams for so effectively demonstrating what it looks like to grow our world from the ground up.”

Here’s some detail on each project.

A place for all to play in Lima

Russ Decker, Manager, Special Projects for Lima, had heard that employees were looking for a community volunteer project to support. So when he learned through his Rotary Club connections that a local school for children with developmental disabilities was looking for volunteer labor to erect a playground, he made some introductions.

“Project Supervisor Josh Buetner was our point guy on this project,” Russ says. “He’d told me about a month before that a lot of folks from the plant would like to go out and do something in the community as we did frequently before COVID. I forwarded the email, and he took things from there. He contacted the school, made the arrangements, recruited the team and they got to work.”

Eleven employees from various departments of the facility put in a full day, and Nutrien paid them for their time through the Employee Volunteer Program. Two other community crews also each put in a full day, and the result of the three-day project is a huge enhancement to Lima. 

“The playground is designed for people with developmental disabilities. For instance, there’s a swing you can roll your whole wheelchair into and swing. It's designed for people with disabilities so they can go out and enjoy a playground just like every other kid wants to go out and enjoy the playground,” Russ explains. “It’s got really bright colors and it’s super cool. The employees loved it. I mean, you could just see it in their faces. They enjoy taking some ownership and saying, ‘Hey, we put that playground together.’”

Ramping up access in Borger

A few weeks later and four states to the southwest, a team from Nutrien’s Borger Nitrogen facility stepped in to build wheelchair ramps for a local teen, within days of first hearing about the need.

Sixteen-year-old Anthony Thacker lost the use of his legs in a car crash earlier this year, and after a long, difficult recovery, he was finally strong enough to be discharged from hospital in October. But a condition of that discharge was that his home had to be fully wheelchair accessible first. Unfortunately, arrangements to have ramps built by another crew had fallen through, so a local United Way leader called on Jimmy Brown, Instrumentation & Electrical Planner at Borger Nutrien, to take over.

Although he’s an electrician by trade, Jimmy has become an expert on building wheelchair ramps, through United Way Days of Caring and other volunteer construction projects. He and his Nutrien coworkers have built about a dozen ramps in the community over the years.

As soon as they heard about the need, Jimmy and eight other Borger employees from across the facility sprang into action and got the job done – some on company time, some on their own time.

“They reached out to us on a Monday,” recalls Kelley Payne, Coordinator, Learning & Development & Community Investment at Borger. “Jimmy and his team went to the house and measured out what was needed for the ramps. He got a quote on Tuesday, and found the ramps in Amarillo on Wednesday afternoon. They started building them on Thursday, and they were completed Friday evening.”

To make matters even more complex, Jimmy noticed when he first arrived that a smaller ramp was also needed inside the home – so he added that project to the to-do list and also had it built and installed in time for the homecoming on Saturday, October 16. 

“I am so proud of our people for stepping up and getting this done,” says Kelley. “If they hadn’t done this, Anthony wouldn’t have been able to come home that day. This is literally life-changing for him.”

Jimmy was able to attend Anthony’s homecoming celebration, so he got to see that impact firsthand.

“He had such a big smile on his face as he tried out the ramp for the first time. He was just so grateful,” Jimmy says. “I’m proud of the team who stepped up and got this done, and it’s great to work for a company that backs you up on things like this. I’ll call up our leaders and say, ‘I’m doing this, OK?’ and they say, ‘Go for it.’”

Our hometown heroes

Thank you Lima team!

Rob Guy, Mike Gasser, Sadie Powell, Shane O’Connor, Troy Dempster, Ron Roof, Bob Schiffhauer, Matt Hefner, Dave Maag, P.J. Schaub, Jr. and Josh Buetner.

Thank you Borger team!

Beth Raper, Luke Lucero, Tod McKinney, Chance Talbot, JR Gray, Josh Gonzalez, Daniel Loya, Kelley Payne and Jimmy Brown.