After a fire torched their Nebraska ranch, anonymous donors came to their rescue

On The Road After a wildfire torched their Nebraska ranch, anonymous donors came to their rescue: "They don't want the glory" .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-evening-news.jpg'); } 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." Read Full Bio Steve Hartman May 1, 2026 / 7:59 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google 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-...