CEDARS Team MembersCEDARS Logo with Text, “Here for kids. Here for families.”
CEDARS is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure all kids have a safe environment where they can grow and thrive. We’ve been committed to helping kids reach safety, stability and enduring family relationships since 1947. Today, through a continuum of nationally accredited services, we provide care
for:
-Children and youth who are unable to live at home.
-Families in need of resources, support and education.
-Youth in need of intervention services.
CEDARS has been a staple in the Lincoln community for more than 75 years. To best serve Nebraska’s kids, we have grown the reach and scope of our services, evolving to meet the needs of the kids who need us most. CEDARS has had a presence in the Omaha metro area since 2015, but in the past several
years, that office has experienced exponential growth. With an emphasis on supporting foster families, our Omaha team proudly cares for roughly 200 kids each day.
While we celebrate this exciting growth within the Omaha area, there are still a countless number of kids needing help in this community. One of the most heartbreaking parts of our work is having to turn away these kids due to a lack of foster homes. CEDARS believes that every child deserves a safe and stable home, and this can only be accomplished with the support of community members that share that same belief.
How will you be here for kids? Apply today to be a foster parent at CEDARSkids.org. If you’re unable to open your home at this time, visit CEDARSkids.org to make a donation or join our team.
CEDARS Omaha Office
10840 Old Mill Rd Ste 200
Omaha, NE 68154
Phone Number: 531-484-2735
Website: CEDARSkids.org
Email: info@cedarskids.org
Facebook and Instagram: @cedarskids
It’s another home run for the College World Series with tasty offerings by Chef Alec Woockman of Levy Foods!
Chef Alec Woockman with his CWS Food Creations
Here’s the College World Series Food Tasting 2023 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha line up:
The Home Plate-Meatball Slider
The Home Plate-Meatball Slider was a favorite of many in the room. It comes with four sliders, with fried ravioli, marinara, mozzarella, pesto, garlic fries with a generous dusting of Parmesan cheese. Each slider has one ridiculously large fluffy meatball, somehow momentarily contained by a bun. If you are not careful, you will … drop the…ball.
Bada Bing Burger
The Bada Bing Burger has the burger, of course it’s from Omaha Steaks, and is topped with fried mozzarella sticks, lettuce, pesto aioli, banana peppers and marinara sauce on a brioche bun. Bada Bing Bada Boom Bada Yum.
Out of the Pork Fries
Just as the pun in the name says, these Out of the Pork Fries were out-of-the-park good. This was one of my favorites. Fries with queso blanco, cowboy-candied jalapenos, amazing smoked barbecue pork with a perfect condiment complement of sweet barbecue sauce.
Grilled Reuben Sausages
The Grilled Reuben Sausages were another of my favorite samples to try. A tasty sausage from local store, Stoysich, a Swiss cheese melted into thousand island dressing for the Reuben and some sauerkraut that doesn’t over power the sausage in a marbled bun makes this one another hit.
The Home Plate- BBQ Platter
The Home Plate- BBQ Platter has a “triple” meaty offering including rib tips packed with flavor beyond its size, smoked chicken and sliced brisket with a special barbecue sauce. Accompanying them are sweet cornbread, baked beans, coleslaw and tater tots.
Midwest Taco Salad
The Midwest Taco Salad has the usual favorites with meat, black beans, pepper and finally shredded cheese. The twist, maybe just for me, was the colorful-crispy ribbons of tortillas on top of the salad.
Chicken Tepanyaki Noodle Salad
The Chicken Tepanyaki Noodle Salad was a surprise dish with its succulent chicken, snow peas, julienne carrots and noodles dusted with a liberal amount of sesame seeds.
Next up something special from a shop in Bellevue,Nebraska. It was Chef Alec’s favorite and also mine.
Scorcher Sticks are fried mozarrella sticks with a kick. The kick comes from Nebraska’s own Volcanic Peppers store in Bellevue. While, I did not find them hot, many people will. I did find then super tasty and will be sure to grab some at the game.
When you get to the game, let us know which were your favorites and why!
Thank you to the Mayor for the interview for this Omaha event.
Mayor Jean Stothert
There’s been so much amazing development in the area.
Right.
It has to feel great to have so much done.
Yes, it does.
I know there’s too many lists of favorites but what are some things you are hoping people will check out when they come to the College World Series?
You know, since the teams and their families stay in hotels around downtown. First of all, it was devastating a couple of years ago because of COVID when it was canceled, and people didn’t get to come to the College World Series. Last year, we had record breaking crowds, because people were so happy it started up again. Last year, the Gene Leahy Mall looked pretty, but you couldn’t go in it. It wasn’t open yet.
This year, it’s open. Kids can go in there and run around and play and play in the great play structure there. There’s events that are going on in the Gene Leahy Mall every day if they want to go and do some yoga or whatever. They could see what the other parks are going to look like because they’re getting done. They’ll open up in August. We have the new Steelhouse downtown, the music venue where the players are going to be tomorrow night. We have the Luminarium Now it’s open, the new museum that’s down on the riverfront. Just so much has happened in this downtown area within walking distance of the stadium. So, I think people are going to really be – those that are coming back. They’ve been here before are going to see a big change. And I think those that are here for the first time in many years are pretty much going to be astounded at what downtown Omaha looks like.
I can’t even fathom how many things have happened in so short a period of time.
Yes, especially because of COVID. You know, because a lot of cities everything shut down which we shut down a lot. But development shutdown to, but it really didn’t here. And you know, the Gene Leahy Mall just kept on right on track, right on schedule, all during COVID because the money has already been raised you know, and so they were on top of it. So, it was, it’s really good that downtown has progressed so much, so quickly. A lot more housing downtown now than there was before. You know, the first phase of the Mercantile which is down, which is on the old Con Agra campus that’s open now there’s a nice lap out there. People can walk around. So that’s going to be a real fun experience for people to see what’s going on.
What’s next on the horizon for development?
Well, I would say the one that I have been working with for a long time and I’m glad to see that construction will start is number one, that Civic Auditorium site which we own that site, and we had the old Civic Auditorium and you know, it was beyond its usefulness anymore. We had it demoed several years ago.
We do have a development that will start developing this summer, and then Crossroads, which is 72nd Dodge. And that is something we’ve been working on for years and years and years and that is underway too.
So, and then, we have all the way out west on 144th and Dodge. We have Heartwood Preserve. That is a big development that Applied Underwriters is doing, but that’s just like going like gangbusters too. So, we have them all over Omaha. We have a Downtown, Midtown, all the way. And then of course, I can’t wait. We can see it started coming out of the ground, but the new Mutual of Omaha tower downtown, and that’s underway too. So all of that is going on right now.
It’s really amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you for all your hard work.
Absolutely. It’s a thrill to see it become a reality.
