2026-05-01 19:59 美东夏令时 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：史蒂夫·哈特曼
史蒂夫·哈特曼 通讯员
史蒂夫·哈特曼是哥伦比亚广播公司新闻通讯员，他通过每周获奖专题栏目“在路上”，为观众带来他偶遇的普通人的动人故事。
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史蒂夫·哈特曼
更新于：2026年5月1日 / 晚8:03 美东夏令时 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
内布拉斯加州沙丘区——前往荒无人烟之地的深处，你最终会抵达迈克和凯拉·温茨的家。这对牧场主在内布拉斯加州西部沙丘区深处生活和劳作。这里有多偏僻？
“买一加仑牛奶要花一个多小时，”迈克告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻。
尽管与世隔绝，迈克和凯拉却说他们从未像现在这样与这个伟大的国家如此紧密相连，这都要归功于一场灾难带来的幸运转机。
今年3月，莫里尔野火——内布拉斯加州历史上最大的野火——焚毁了约1000平方英里的牧场，其中包括迈克和凯租借的土地。这场野火吞噬了他们全部1.1万英亩的土地。
“两个小时之内一切都没了，太令人难受了，”迈克说。
牧草被毁后，牛群无法放牧，迈克和凯拉真的面临失去生计的危险。该地区其他本可以伸出援手的牧场主也处境相同：他们也没有干草。但随后迈克的电话开始响起，全是捐助来电。
迈克表示，到目前为止，他已经收到了价值约8万美元的捐赠干草，其中大部分来自匿名捐助者。
“他们不想张扬，”迈克谈到捐助者时说。
凯拉补充道：“他们知道自己做了好事，这就足够了。”
萨拉·卡弗是一名志愿者，一直在为该地区其他同样失去所有牧草和干草的牧场主牵线搭桥联系捐助者。
“每天最多能接到200通想要捐赠干草的来电，”卡弗告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻。“……你会看到一队20多辆满载干草的卡车组成的车队，还有学童们在路边为他们欢呼。”
没有人主动要求过这种帮助。这份善意来自数千名远至南卡罗来纳州的农民、牧场主和卡车司机。同理心、慈善和仁爱——这些品质确保了无论你多么与世隔绝，你永远不会孤身一人。
卡弗说：“我们联系过的每一位愿意运送干草的牧场主，都要求我们先把干草送给他们的邻居。”
After a wildfire torched their Nebraska ranch, anonymous donors came to their rescue: “They don’t want the glory”
2026-05-01 19:59 EDT / CBS News
By Steve Hartman
Steve Hartman Correspondent
Steve Hartman is a CBS News correspondent. He brings viewers moving stories from the unique people he meets in his weekly award-winning feature segment “On the Road.”
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Steve Hartman
Updated on: May 1, 2026 / 8:03 PM EDT / CBS News
Sandhills, Nebraska — Go to the edge of nowhere and keep heading toward the middle of it and you will eventually come to the home of Mike and Kayla Wintz, ranchers who live and work deep in the sandhills of western Nebraska. How remote is it?
“A gallon of milk is a little over an hour away,” Mike told CBS News.
Although they are isolated, Mike and Kayla say they have never felt more connected to this great nation, thanks to the blessing of a curse.
In March, the Morrill Fire, the largest wildfire in Nebraska history, burned about 1,000 square miles of ranchland, including the fields that Mike and Kayla lease. The wildfire burned all 11,000 acres of their land.
“Within two hours it’s all gone, it’s tough,” Mike said.
With the grass gone, the cattle couldn’t graze, and Mike and Kayla were in real danger of losing their livelihoods. Other ranchers in the area who might have helped were in the same boat: They didn’t have hay either. But then Mike’s phone started ringing with donations.
So far, Mike says, he has been gifted about $80,000 worth of hay, mostly from anonymous donors.
“They don’t want the glory,” Mike said of the donors.
Added Kayla: “They know they did it and that’s all they need.”
Sara Cover is a volunteer who has been connecting donors with other ranchers in the area who lost all their grass and hay too.
“Up to 200 phone calls a day of people wanting to donate hay,” Cover told CBS News. “… You see these convoys of 20-plus trucks loaded with hay. And there’s school kids cheering them on.”
No one asked for this help. It just came from thousands of farmers, ranchers and truck drivers as far away as South Carolina. Empathy, charity and grace — qualities that guarantee that no matter how isolated you are, you are never alone.
Said Cover: “Every rancher that we have called to send them hay has asked us to send it to their neighbor first.”
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