Diers recalls almost 10 years of FACF service

Even before the collaboration during the 2019 flood — when she saw people help others despite their own severe losses — or the COVID-19 pandemic, Diers witnessed philanthropy that provided academic, artistic and athletic opportunities and also helped people and animals in need.

Diers is executive director of the Fremont Area Community Foundation which, since its inception 43 years ago, has distributed more than $38 million in scholarships and grants throughout Fremont and the greater Dodge County area.

Now approaching her 10th anniversary with FACF, Diers recalls how the foundation has worked with donors and provided leadership to nonprofit agencies.

Born in Fremont, Diers graduated from Fremont High School and what’s now called Midland University, where she later worked for 10 years — first in public relations and then in fundraising as director of institutional advancement.

She met Kirk Diers, who was working in the Fremont-based family business, Diers Farm and Home. They married and started a family.

With a degree in journalism and business administration, Melissa Diers decided to return to what she’d studied at Midland — marketing.

She launched her own marketing consulting business, working with small Fremont businesses.

“I really enjoyed working with some great businesses,” she said.

After 16 years, her career path would change.

“At that point, I realized I’d been missing nonprofit work,” Diers said. “Working in a nonprofit feels less like a job than a calling.”

Diers’ calling led her look into a job opening as FACF executive director. Before she applied, Diers looked on the foundation’s website and recognized several board members as people she’d worked with while at Midland.

She knew none of them would have agreed to serve on the FACF board if they weren’t committed to the work.

“And that makes all the difference,” she said.

She’d also been aware of FACF’s role for years.

“It serves a unique role in the community as a connector of charitable people and the needs and opportunities in the area to make a difference,” she said.

She’ll mark her 10th anniversary with FACF in September.

In her role, Diers oversees the foundation’s operations, works with donors and ensures that the more than 220 component funds under FACF’s umbrella are stewarded effectively. She directs the foundation’s leadership program for nonprofits, designed to help the agencies become stronger, and the Youth Philanthropy Program, which can help young people discover the joy of giving back to their communities.

“We also have the ability to provide leadership around issues and needs, much like we did with the flood,” she said.

Back then, the foundation joined efforts with an organization already working to form a plan to provide food, shelter and transportation to those impacted by the historical flood.

A 2019 Tribune article details how local nonprofit agencies worked together to help estimates of more than 2,000 people in Fremont and surrounding communities.

Shawn Shanahan Brown, then executive director of Fremont Area United Way, said in that article how the agency set up shelters in local churches and a school to house evacuees, who received food, clothing, hygiene products, medical and cleanup supplies.

The Greater Dodge County Long-Term Recovery group — which consisted of several entities — was formed and regularly met to respond to needs that arose for area families.

Diers became part of that group, serving on the allocations and resources committee which continues to provide financial assistance to households just now rebuilding after the flood.

She still recalls the early days after the flooding.

“I worked alongside people during those days who themselves had been displaced,” she said. “They lost their homes to the flood waters, yet they were out there filling sandbags.”

Diers remembers a friend and colleague, who’d lost a home, and not only filled sandbags, but brought supplies to a school to help others.

“She was right in there as were so many others,” Diers said. “It seemed that everybody was asking how they could help.”

Diers remains moved by that memory.

“This ranks as one of the most touching experiences of my professional life — witnessing how so many people in the community came together to help each other during the flooding and continuing even today,” she said.

In 2020 — when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted — many of the same people began addressing needs.

FACF led weekly COVID task force meetings via Zoom to identify where help was needed and brainstorm on how to put resources and assistance to work.

With discussion about kids not returning to in-person learning after spring break, Diers and Christy Fiala, current executive director of Fremont Area United Way, met with school officials to discuss how to get food to students who otherwise would have had breakfast and lunch at school. Schools provided the meals.

“We identified a way to allow families to access food through drive-through distributions at multiple sites so kids could come through and get their breakfast and lunch food,” Diers said.

That step led to many others.

A COVID-19 Task Force was formed and the COVID-19 Response Fund would provide critical supplies and funds to Fremont and surrounding communities.

The task force worked to get information about food and rent assistance to people who couldn’t work, because of COVID-caused business closures.

A 2020 Tribune article told how the response fund provided money for such projects as the foundation’s “Grab and Go” meal program, which supplied meals to thousands of individuals while supporting local restaurants throughout the county.

Task force members worked with the restaurants, which were paid to provide hot meals that people could drive through and receive.

“Those were two examples of how a community foundation can serve a community during times of profound need,” Diers said.

Diers commends her staff.

“Our staff of two full-time and one part-time person rose to the occasion,” Diers said, adding that FACF’s regular programs continued during the flood and COVID.

One of those was the Fremont Area Big Give, which took place after the flood and during COVID.

“We saw remarkable charity during those events,” Diers said of the FABG, which just finished its seventh, 24-hour day of online giving in May.

On the heels of the pandemic came the surge of inflation.

“We’ve seen needs in the community increase, because of the financial hardships that inflation causes,” Diers said.

Although no task force has been formed to address this issue, organizations come to the FACF, requesting assistance for programs to help families.

“We support them as best we can and educate donors about where the needs exist and what organizations are doing to help families in our area,” Diers said.

During her tenure, Diers has appreciated the hundreds of Youth Philanthropy Grant (YPG) participants.

Throughout the years, participants have made STEM kits for kids in the local homeless shelter or made fidget boards for nursing home residents with memory loss or refurbished a cabin — or more recently — rebuilt fire pits at an area campgrounds.

Diers has long been inspired by donors sharing their dream of providing a scholarship or giving back in some other way, because of a wonderful experience they had.

“I love it when a donor reaches out to the community foundation with an idea start a fund designed to create a new opportunity to make our community better,” Diers said.

She notes that the foundation isn’t able to provide as much support as it would like.

“The foundation receives more requests every year than we can possibly fund,” she said. “I always wish we had more grant funds to award.”

Future plans include continuing to host the Big Give.

“We will continue to reach out to area nonprofit leaders with new programs and opportunities to make their organizations better,” Diers said. “And we’re always looking forward to helping someone with a great idea for investing in our community.”