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PHOTOS FROM THE REID’S TIME AT THE OMAHA HOME FOR BOYS
| BY: BETTY REID, THE SHOWTIMES |
The Reid family met Mike Pallas in 2006 under not so usual circumstances. All five of us were packed into the truck and the trailer was loaded with cattle, hogs, and sheep headed for Aksarben when it was still in Omaha. It was late, but a beautiful night. We hit road construction and had to detour off of the highway. Looking out the rearview mirror we spotted smoke. At first, we thought it was the trailer, then found out it was coming out of the exhaust pipe. Driving slowly, we made it to the truck stop in York. We called our roadside assistant. We were told that
we would have to drop the trailer. And then what? I pulled out a lawn chair, left the family in the truck and pouted in my chair in the truck stop lot. At about 1 AM I called our good friend, Kirk Roecker. He said let me call you right back. He called and told me all was good; his friend Mike Pallas would come and get us and take us to his house. He gave me Mike’s number. I actually stayed in my lawn chair for another hour, not wanting to impose on a complete stranger before I called Mike. Mike had been waiting for our call. He was there
in less than an hour. We hooked the trailer to his truck and headed for Omaha where at the time he ran the Omaha Boys Home. When we got to the farm, he helped us unload everything. He set us up in a beautiful barn with a warmup arena to exercise the cattle, automatic waterers and fans for each stall. It had the most beautiful views. He then gave us the keys to his barn and new pickup and said to make ourselves at home – letting us use them both for the week we were in Omaha. We laid over at his house for two days before we had to head to the show.
This kindness and generosity came from a man that we had never met. To our surprise, he was working the ring at Aksarben when the kids walked into the ring. We became fast friends and actually laid over at his house for the next several years when we showed at Aksarben. It was a huge treat!!! Mike just said “pay it forward to someone who needs help.” That statement has always stayed with our family and we continue to this day to try to pay it forward at every opportunity. ■
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