Special to the Register by Joe Duggan
Sacred Heart Church, Lincoln
(SNR) – In the middle of soybean field near Ithaca, Christopher Miller reached a crossroads.
In the months leading to that moment in the fall of 2019, he had taken out a loan to buy a used combine and launch a unique volunteer nonprofit organization. The plan is simple: harvest corn, soybeans, and wheat for a per-acre fee and give the proceeds to Catholic schools.
Miller knows an affordable Catholic education cannot be taken for granted. As a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Lincoln, he saw his church’s elementary school consolidate with another parish for financial reasons. The closing was personally painful because his son, Matthew, was a kindergarten student at the time.
It has taken months of crunching numbers, doing maintenance on the machine, and lining up acres to finally reach the point of cutting soybeans for schools.
Yet at a moment that should have been pure elation, he also felt anxiety.
“I was happy as a pig in mud,” he recalled. “But I was also thinking of all of the things I still had to do.”
While the harvest is indeed plentiful, the work is more than just a few laborers can do.
So he prays.
“That’s been the theme of the last year,” he said, “give it up to the Lord.”
* * *
The inspiration for Holy Harvesters came while driving to a monthly Knights of Columbus meeting. Miller said he sensed the Holy Spirit tapping him on the shoulder.
He had been trying to come up with ideas to save Sacred Heart School. An impressive fundraising effort led by Father Leo Kosch, principal Laura Knaus, and key parishioners in late 2018 had bought time, but just a couple of months into 2019, the school was back on the brink.
Miller, a mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in agricultural engineering, had kicked around the idea of starting a custom harvest business as a “side hustle.” But it never felt right. Harvesting for Sacred Heart School did.
It was an unexpected commitment by a 31-year-old man who never attended a single day of parochial school. For that matter, although he was raised a Christian, he had not regularly attended church for years when he met Michelle Prothman in 2011.
One Sunday, she asked him to go to Mass with her at St. Thomas Aquinas Church near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. He reluctantly agreed, but as he sat in a pew that Sunday, something stirred within his heart. Although he didn’t know the terminology for it at the time, he found himself engaging in an examination of conscience.
After Mass ended, he asked Michelle if she would wait for him. He wanted to return to the church sanctuary alone.
“I hadn’t knelt during the Mass, but I did when I returned,” he said. “Having no idea what this golden box was behind the altar, I knelt there and bawled my eyes out for the previous umpteen years of basically being everything the Church is not. And without knowing anything of the Bible, I kept thinking about of the verse, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ ”
He joined the Church during the Easter Vigil Mass of 2012. He and Michelle got married, started their family, and enrolled at Sacred Heart. And every fall, they visited the three-generation farm Michelle’s family operates near Albion. That’s how Christopher first got to harvest crops. He loved it.
It was one of several connections to agriculture. His father is a fertilizer dealer in the Kansas City area and Miller designs combines for Claas, a German farm implement manufacturer with a corporate location in Omaha.
After the Knights meeting in early 2019, he approached Paul Bauer, a friend and fellow knight at Sacred Heart. Bauer, who grew up on a farm near Spaulding, immediately offered to help with the effort.
Over subsequent weeks, Miller signed loan papers to purchase a lease return combine from his employer. But before he could share his plan with others, the decision was made to close Sacred Heart School after the 2019 school year.
Miller asked his wife what they were going to do with a combine they had just borrowed $250,000 to buy.
“We’re just going to have to save our next school,” his wife said without hesitation.
And with that vote of confidence, Holy Harvesters began.
* * *
The Claas Lexion 740 didn’t have many operating hours, but it needed maintenance. The work fell to Miller, Bauer, and Tim Menke, also a fellow knight and Sacred Heart parishioner, who was raised on a family farm in Iowa.
Miller filed the paperwork for tax-exempt status – still pending – and recruited a board of directors. In addition to Menke, board members are Steve Guenzel of the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, Jennifer Lyons and John Rajewski of Sacred Heart, and John Soukup of St. John the Apostle in Lincoln. He said it seemed every person he brought in had skills, knowledge, or contacts that could help.
During their first season, the Holy Harvesters put nearly 1,200 acres of soybeans in the bin. They had help along the way, from the farmers who provided space to store the combine to the grain truck operator who donated transportation of the combine.
Bob Bartek, who farms near Ithaca with his brother Richard and son Nick, was among the first farmers to sign up soybean acres with the organization.
“They did a good job, everything worked out really well. I feel it’s a very worthwhile cause,” said Bob, a member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Wenceslaus Church in Wahoo.
Still, as with any nonprofit in its early stages, the future remains uncertain for the Holy Harvesters.
First and foremost, Miller said he needs more farmers willing to let the organization do their harvesting; both summer wheat and corn and soybeans in the fall. He also needs additional volunteers who have experience operating farm machinery to help during the harvest. Finally, he could use a truck driver willing to haul grain and farmers who could lend a spare tractor or two during the harvest seasons.
Under the financial plan, the organization will pay down equipment expenses—all labor is donated—over the next two years. After that, Holy Harvesters has the potential to donate in excess of $100,000 to schools annually, depending upon the number acres they can sign up. Farmers may direct up to 25 percent of the proceeds from their fields to the school of their choice.
Christopher and Michelle would love to start directing funds to schools sooner. So, they’ve established a website where anyone can donate to help their mission — www.holyharvesters.com.
“It’s like an investment in the future,” Michelle said. “Just like education is an investment in the future.”
For additional motivation, the couple looks to their children — Matthew, now at St. Teresa School, AnnMarie, Lydia, and Rosalyn.
“We wanted the kids to look up to us and know we did more than just feed and clothe them,” Michelle said. “We have a passion for the Lord and their education. We needed to show them we took action and didn’t just let their school close.”
Christopher still has some anxious moments when he sizes up everything with an engineer’s head. When he approaches it with a Christian heart, however, the burden feels lighter.
“I just keep telling myself to put my trust in the Lord. He’s guiding this effort. I’m just doing His will.”
Go to www.holyharvesters.com to sign up acres or donate to Holy Harvesters. Or, reach Christopher Miller at 816-807-3031.
