Beatrice woman leaves legacy of giving back to the community

Pat Timm learned the value of giving back to her community early in life.

“I grew up with a lot of influence in my life toward giving back to the community. My parents were always active in the community,” Timm said.

That’s what lead her to become the administrator of the Family Resource Center in 1997.

“It seemed like a good place to do that,” she said.

After 11 years with the organization, now called the One Stop Community Resource Center, Timm will retire on Friday.

“I just felt it was time to do some different things in my life,” she said. “I’m very busy with the State Board of Education and will continue to do some things in the community, but I felt it was time to step back and relax, and look for other adventures.”

One Stop Community Resource Center Board President Dale Kruse said the board will not hire another administrator at this time. Partners on site at the center will continue to function as usual, he said.

“The board is very grateful for what Pat has done and the leadership she has provided. She dedicated 11 years of her life to the betterment and growth of this organization,” he said.

Timm said the Family Resource Center was formed in 1989 and had three administrators. The position sat open from 1995 until Timm was hired in 1997.

“Our mission has been to change how services are provided, bringing them all under one roof. It’s more convenient for the consumer and makes more efficient use of resources,” she said.

When she started, Timm said, the center occupied two wings of the building, with Health and Human Services in one wing and the Head Start program in another.

“We’ve remodeled three times. Now we’re spread out all through the building,” she said.

Timm said she is most proud of work the center has done with early childhood programs, including working with the Head Start program, starting an Even Start program and providing training for parents of young children and child care providers.

“We were very active with the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant,” she said.

The center also worked directly with safety programs, providing baby cribs and doing car seat checks, Timm said. Those programs have ended for now because they were grant-funded.

Other programs, including Ready, Set, Go, Even Start and Head Start, will continue, she said.

So will the Gage County Christmas Wishlist, which will be run by the Blue Valley Community Action Partnership, Timm said.

Kruse said the administrator’s responsibilities will be absorbed by the coordinator, building administrator and the board. The decision not to fill the administrator position was made because some of the grant funding that helped pay for it ran out, he said.

“It’s hard to look to replace Pat when there’s not a steady revenue stream,” he said.