Reagan Scott
for the Register
Students of Saunders Catholic Schools celebrated the annual “Beef Booster Day” Sept. 22, made possible by the Larry and Marty Mach Beef Boosters program.
On that day, volunteers helped grill burgers made from local beef to feed more than 600 students and staff at St. John Nepomucene Elementary in Weston, St. Wenceslaus Elementary and Bishop Neumann Junior/Senior High School in Wahoo.
The day was a celebration of Nebraska beef and one that Wendy Mach, the daughter of Larry and Marty Mach, described as a great experience for the students.
“I love seeing the joy on the kids’ faces,” she said. “There are a handful of students who come from ranching families, but most students don’t. When they get a day like this, it’s a total game-changing day. They know that this is real.”
The grills used to make the burgers were provided by Frontier Cooperative, and Mach said volunteers and donors to the program helped to grill and serve lunch to the students, who also enjoyed ice cream sandwiches made with ice cream donated by the Saunders County Dairy Women.
Carolyn Haberman, the kitchen manager at Bishop Neumann since June 2020, said the Beef Booster celebration is a fun day for the students, and that they love getting to enjoy great burgers made from beef raised in the state, which was exactly what Larry Mach intended when he reached out to Haberman in August 2020 to speak with her about starting a beef booster program for Saunders Catholic Schools.
A “Nebraska Cattleman” whose three children Wendy, Ryan and Ross had attended Bishop Neumann High School, Larry had heard that other schools in Nebraska had beef booster programs, where donors gave cows or monetary donations in order to provide locally-raised beef for school lunches. He wanted to start one for the Catholic schools where he lived.
Tragically, Larry and Marty were both killed in a car accident the next month, but the program, which is named after them, has continued to grow and make an impact on the students who enjoy the benefit of having locally-grown beef in their school meals.
Wendy Mach serves as a voice for the program – advocating for, and educating people on what it is and how they can support it.
“I’m speaking for (my parents) in this process,” she said. “This is another way, and a different way to support our Catholic schools.”
Haberman said that now, most of the schools’ beef meals are made with locally raised beef donated by local growers and producers.
Monetary donations to the booster fund are used to process and package the beef, which is done in USDA-approved lockers. In one instance, a donor to the fund told Haberman to use the money they’d given to buy a cow, in addition to getting it processed.
Haberman said one cow can provide 300 to 400 pounds of ground beef, enough to make four to five meals for 500 people each. While most of the beef from donated cows is processed into hamburger to be used in the students’ meals, the prime cuts are auctioned off, with the proceeds going back in the beef booster fund.
So far this school year, Haberman hasn’t needed to purchase any beef from the schools’ food supplier, which has saved the school money. All of the beef served in the students’ meals this school year has come from cows donated, or purchased with money from the booster fund.
“I try to serve fresh beef one time a week,” Haberman said.
While hamburger meals require more meat per student, lunches like chili, spaghetti and casseroles only require about 80 pounds of beef, allowing Haberman to stretch the supply.
The program is still growing, and the biggest challenge since its inception has been in trying to meet the goal of securing 10 cows per year, along with the funds needed to process them. Meeting this goal would allow the schools to use the beef from one cow for lunches each month of the school year.
Mach said the beef donated in September came from a rancher near York who heard about the program, thought it was amazing, and wanted to donate.
The program has secured a cow for the month of October, and will have half a cow coming in December. The donors for that half have challenged the community to raise the money needed to buy and process the other half.
Mach said those interested in helping can donate money to the beef booster fund, donate cows if they have them, or reach out to ranchers or producers to buy a cow that can then be donated to the school.
The beef booster page on Bishop Neumann’s website includes a donation form and notes that all donations, whether monetary or cows, are tax-deductible. Mach said interested individuals can also reach out to the school to speak with Haberman or someone in the development office.
The schools’ annual beef booster celebration gives Saunders Catholic School students and staff a day to celebrate the program, to celebrate Nebraska beef, and to celebrate the couple who made it all possible. The date for this year’s event, Sept. 22, was Larry and Marty Mach’s wedding anniversary, and Wendy Mach said the goal is to hold the celebration on or near that date every year, in honor of them.
Photos courtesy Saunders County Catholic Schools
