Community unites, strengthens Airmen Published Aug. 26, 2025 By Chad Watkins 55th Wing Public Affairs OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- Team Offutt hosted its third quarterly Community Partnership meeting on Aug. 12, 2025, at the Offutt Event Center. Featured in this meeting was Offutt’s collaboration with United Way of the Midlands and their 211 Helpline initiative, an initiative to connect those in need with essential needs like housing, food, transportation and health care. The Military and Family Helpline is a specialized extension of 211, designed to serve veterans, active-duty members and their families by ensuring they have access to these critical resources. “The Offutt AFB Community Partnership Program was created to bring together our traditional partners like local governments with partners who are typically considered outside the box, such as nonprofit organizations,” said Krista Hoffart, 55th Civil Engineering Squadron Chief of Plans and Programs. “It can provide a magnitude of knowledge and resources to personnel at the 55th Wing and Offutt Air Force Base.” While the program is still in its infancy, Offutt has had strong community partnerships for decades. “The collaboration built through this program helps provide a unity of effort on infrastructure projects, morale and support resources for current and veteran service members and their families and it helps promote Offutt AFB not only as the Air Force’s Installation of Choice, but the entire Nebraska and Iowa community as the place to live and work,” said Hoffart. The Military and Family Helpline is the first to integrate a 211 Helpline community navigator on base, providing easy access to community and base resources. "Through open dialogue, active listening and mutual trust we're able to identify needs and work together," said Lauren Kimball, Chief Strategy Officer at United Way of the Midlands. "When we bring together diverse resources and perspectives, we're able to combine efforts and transform ideas into action." Some of the updates that the United Way highlighted were more than 5,300 contacts in the first year, a 2025 InformUSA Innovation Award and the addition of 250 new military-related resources added to the 211 database of more than 30,000 total resources. The Military and Family Helpline is made possible through the partnership and generosity of the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, Beardmore Chevrolet, Beardmore Subaru, Beardmore Hyundai, Five Points Bank, ACCESSbank, Caretch, Pella Windows and CymStar, as well as the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Along with the United Way, local mayors from Bellevue, Papillion, Omaha, La Vista, Council Bluffs and Plattsmouth were in attendance, as well as representatives from local chambers of commerce. “The Community Partnership Program at Offutt shows what can happen when the base and the local community come together,” said Randy Norwood, Assistant Vice President of Military Affairs and Strategic Partnership at the Greater Omaha Chamber. “It is about collaboration and more — building stronger schools, better services and more opportunities for everyone. Offutt already brings more than $2.9 billion a year into Nebraska’s economy and supports nearly 10,000 military and civilian jobs. This program helps make sure those benefits ripple out even further. When the base succeeds, the community succeeds — and when the community is strong, it makes the mission stronger too.”