Elmwood Community Foundation

08/06/2026

08/04/2026

Congratulations to Marissa Oehlerking, daughter of John & Carae Oehlerking, for being selected as the 2026-2027 Miss Elmwood. We wish her the very best in the Cass County Queen Contest on Wednesday evening, August 5th, 7:30 p.m., at the Open Air Auditorium.

08/02/2026

Please join us on Sunday, August 23 at 1:30 p.m. at the Elmwood Cultural Arts & Learning Center for an update on this groundbreaking research project with a local connection.

Nebraska and Kansas have the highest rates of Parkinson’s disease in the country, and researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center are working with a farming family in Elmwood to develop a potential treatment using bovine colostrum. According to a dual study by EPIC Research, 620 out of every 100,000 people in Nebraska have Parkinson’s disease. Lead researcher Dr. Howard Gendelman said the high number may be partly because Nebraska was the first state to create a Parkinson’s registry. He said environmental factors tied to agriculture and genetics may also play a role. John Oehlerking, a sixth-generation farmer, and his family collect colostrum from their cattle and supply it to UNMC in Omaha. "Colostrum is the first milk that comes from the cow after the calf is born,” Oehlerking said. “And we’ve always known that colostrum provides the vitamins and the antibodies for the baby calves.” His wife, Carae Oehlerking, said the partnership began with researchers visiting their home. “The bovine colostrum could mimic what actually was present in a woman who was breastfeeding a child,” Gendelman said. Extracellular vesicles in colostrum stop the inflammation that kills neurons in Parkinson’s disease models. Joel Alperson and Carol Swarts, MD, supported this research. Together, they created NeuralRegen, a newly minted biotechnology company.

06/19/2026

When the Elmwood Community Foundation (ECF) was established in December 2021, one of our goals was to award grants to nonprofits serving the Elmwood-Murdock area. Because of generous donations to the ECF General Fund, we were able to meet that goal and offer the first grants in February 2023. Since that time, grant awards have totaled $7,500 to local nonprofits.

During the 2026 grant cycle, we were able to award $3,000 in grants and are excited to announce the recipients: Cass County 4-H, Elmwood Public Library, Elmwood Rescue, Elmwood-Murdock High School FCCLA, Elmwood-Murdock PTO, and Elmwood-Murdock Merchants’ Association (EMMA).

Below is a quick look at the awesome plans these groups have for their funds. Our congratulations to them on their awards, and we look forward to seeing their completed projects in the near future. Also, our thanks to the generous donations to the Elmwood Community Foundation that have made these projects possible.

05/15/2026

If you are between 16 and 21 and have always dreamed of representing your community as Miss Elmwood, here is your opportunity:

04/16/2026

Please join us at the Elmwood Cultural Arts & Learning Center on Thursday, May 7th at 10:00 a.m. for this important educational presentation by the Nebraska Attorney General's office.