Hastings Community Theatre

“The Show Must Go On” … and it has for nearly 60 years at the Hastings Community Theatre. Over those years, HCT has made audiences laugh, cry, sing, smile, and think.

The theatre takes pride in being a valued part of the community. During the early years, performances were any place that had a stage or a space where a stage could be created. In 1979, arrangements were made with Good Samaritan Village for the theatre to have use of the old Spencer Park School. In February of 1981, HCT presented the first show in the new theatre and since then has presented hundreds of shows, providing local audiences with the best live theatre in the area.

“The Hastings Community Foundation has played a role in HCT’s success. Grant funding has assisted us with projects such as lighting and sound improvements, restroom renovations, printing projects, and children’s programming, including HCT Kids’ production of “The Little Mermaid”. HCT has also set up an endowment account through the Hastings Community Foundation. The endowment fund will become invaluable in years to come, assisting us with funds to perpetuate operation of the theatre.

“Thank you, Hastings Community Foundation for helping us insure that ‘The Show Will Go On’ for many years to come!”
– Donna Hastings

The Zone

The way young people spend their after-school hours can significantly impact their success in school and life. At the ZONE, the YWCA provides a safe place for middle school students to gather with friends, learn social skills, enjoy a free snack and/or dinner, participate in physical and art activities and receive help with homework.

“For multiple years, the Hastings Community Foundation has given us the funding to increase enrichment activities, learning opportunities, nutrition assistance and extended our community service outreach to over 200 plus middle school youth.  Thanks to the Community Foundation suppor,t our youth have  multiple opportunities after-school.  These opportunities have and continue to keep our community youth safe, engaged and active.  Without the Hastings Community Foundation support many of these opportunities would not exist.  The YWCA is very grateful for this partnership.”
– Jennifer Lewis, YWCA Director

Prairie Loft

Prairie Loft brings people together through ideas and experiences that they cannot find anywhere else. Farm-based experiential education means muddy hands and a-ha moments. It means chasing butterflies and calling cows, sharing stories and planting seeds.

Community encouragement for the work we do feeds our passion for Prairie Loft’s mission. We are grounded in history and heritage as we teach and inspire future generations in ways that are inclusive, active, and meaningful.

We are proud to work with the Hastings Community Foundation staff, board, and donors who help us plant the seeds for amazing programs for all ages. Since 2008, HCF has provided grants and donor advised gifts for our capital improvements and our growing education program. Encouragement from the Hastings Community Foundation has provided us with the means to expand popular education programs and try new ideas that are building a place to teach and inspire for generations to come.

“We love this place! It’s an amazing resource for kids to interact with agriculture in a hands-on way.”
-Parent of 3 young kids

“You can play in the mud! You can go on walks! I love Prairie Loft!! It is the best place ever.”
-Prairie Loft kid, age 6

Hearts & Hands Against Hunger

Imagine dozens of volunteers from youth groups, churches, clubs and individuals willing to don a shower cap, join an assembly line and spend a few hours packaging soy, rice. vegetables and vitamin/mineral casseroles. Their mission? To assemble highly nutritious, life-saving meals for starving and malnourished children and their families in developing countries and the United States. Since their founding, they have packed more than 3 millions meals!

How did the Hastings Community Foundation help?

The Hastings Community Foundation grant we received made it possible for us to purchase much needed tables and shelving that helped us expand our operation so we could increase the number of meals packaged.  Thanks to the Hastings Community Foundation we are now able to provide meals for even more hungry and starving people.

– Jeanne Hastings, Program Coordinator

Visit To The Museum

The Hastings Museum and the Hastings Community Foundation have worked together since 2002 to provide a quality educational experience for the children of migrant workers in South Central Nebraska.  Through Head Start’s summer school program, students take part in classroom activities and focus on reading and math.  The funding from the Community Foundation makes it possible for these kids to visit the J.M. McDonald Planetarium, experience a film in the Super Screen Theatre, and view all of the museum’s exhibits as part of their 6-week program.

As the numbers of migrant workers began to decrease in recent years, the program evolved to include all summer school students in Adams County, along with the young men at the Hastings Regional Center.  Over the past 15 years we have presented this program to 2,425 migrant children and 1,608 local students for a total of 4,033 kids!

Many have said that their visit to the Hastings Museum was the highlight of their summer!
– Rebecca Matticks, Director, Hastings Museum