Nora and I have lived in Henderson for almost six years now and we have found that it is a great place to live and to raise a family. As the president of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce it is easy for me to boast about the wonderful things that our town has to offer. Henderson’s assets include our school, our hospital, our family friendly swimming pool, our beautiful parks and our neatly groomed neighborhoods. The businesses in and around Henderson are another asset of our community that offer a wide variety of products and services.
The people of Henderson have always supported local businesses. This has been key to business success. Our local hospital would have closed its doors years ago without the response of people, with local roots, who were willing to invest in Henderson. Our town’s attributes and local businesses are a direct result of community support.
We must not take our past success for granted. It can be difficult in a small town to compete with out of town prices because fewer goods move in limited populations. However, this can be counteracted by providing quality products and excellent customer service to the people of Henderson and surrounding communities. Customer relationships are strengthened when businesses go the extra mile to provide superior service. Many customers will pay a little extra for a service when someone stays open late, makes that extra phone call to ensure satisfaction or works you in today when tomorrow is too late. I challenge our community to provide better products and to welcome our neighbors when they visit our community. This not only keeps dollars in town, but it also draws additional income from out of town to ensure business success.
Furthermore, Henderson has proven its ability to achieve great services and community goals. In recent years, we’ve expanded our hospital, updated our athletic facilities, improved our roads and added additional cable to improve technology access. Another thing that would benefit Henderson would be a community center. This idea emerged in our strategic planning meeting last year when residents analyzed community strengths, weaknesses and needs. A committee has been formed to brainstorm the initial phases of this project.
A community center would provide recreational opportunities for the entire community throughout the year. First, this facility could be used to ease the shortage of childcare by providing after school programs and activities for young children. We have people who work or live in town that would love to have additional daycare options in town, but are limited because many of our existing daycares are full. Such services would draw additional local residents, resulting in more revenue for local businesses.
Next, Henderson is a very healthy community. A community center would further promote our healthy lifestyles, especially when Nebraska weather prevails. This facility would offer a clean, level place to walk inside. An indoor pool in this facility could provide temperate conditions for aquatic exercise and swimming lessons. This would keep residents from driving to York during cool weather as well as provide entertainment for visiting grandchildren. In addition, this facility could also be a place to host birthday parties and celebrations. Young families drive to York or Hastings for indoor pools and recreation centers for these celebrations. By providing local facilities, we could provide such services to our community as well as attract customers from neighboring communities.
Furthermore, an indoor play space within a community center would offer young children of all ages a safe place to burn energy despite weather limitations. This is a more productive outlet for energy in the winter time as opposed to video games and television. Finally, a community gym would provide additional practice space and hours for elementary and school sponsored teams. This would ease the scheduling crunch that results from many teams trying to schedule practices. Such facilities could also allow us to promote our community through local volleyball, basketball or swimming leagues. Such activities would also draw additional patrons to local business and keep our locals in town.
Henderson has a great location on the interstate that allows for people to commute and enjoy small town living. Let’s give families an additional reason to live in and visit Henderson. Community services and opportunities boost our local economy and make Henderson an even more enjoyable and attractive place to call home.
Dr. Jim Ohrt
