Nebraska State Treasurer Don Stenberg introduced little Gable Butt, the third Nebraska NEST Birthday Baby, today at a news conference at CHI Health St. Francis in Grand Island. Gable, son of Ivie and Myles Butt of Central City, received a $529 contribution to a Nebraska Educational Savings Trust (NEST) college savings account.
Gable was born March 27 at CHI Health St. Francis. He is the third baby recognized in the State Treasurer’s Nebraska NEST Birthday Babies drawing, a yearlong sweepstakes honoring Nebraska’s 150th birthday celebration. Nebraska NEST Birthday Babies has been designated a Legacy program by the Nebraska 150 Commission.
“We are grateful for this opportunity,” said Myles Butt, a lineman with Southern Power and wrestling coach at Central City High School. “This is a great start, and we can add to it. We said we were going to start a college savings account for Gable, but we hadn’t started anything yet.”
“Higher education is important to us,” said Ivie Butt, an RN at Litzenberg Memorial County Hospital in Central City. “He is only a month old, and he has already has $500 in his account. We wouldn’t have started saving this early. We would have just talked about it.”
Ivie has bachelor’s degrees from Doane University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Myles attended Wayne State College and has an associate’s degree from Northeast Nebraska Community College.
“Nebraska NEST Birthday Babies is intended to encourage parents and grandparents to set up Nebraska Educational Savings Trust (NEST) accounts when children are very young, even at birth. It is also our way to celebrate Nebraska’s 150th birthday, by focusing on the next generation of Nebraskans and helping their families save for college,” Treasurer Stenberg said.
“Investing in NEST when children are very young benefits families in many ways. Investing early gives families more years to plan and save for college, encourages families to develop regular savings habits, enables families to save more because of compound interest, and provides substantial tax savings for families,” he said.
Also speaking at the news conference was Alice Quick, BSN and RNC-OB, a registered nurse certified in inpatient obstetrics who has worked in labor and delivery for nearly 40 years.
“It is a privilege to work in this beautiful hospital that provides state-of-the-art care. Parents dream about how they want their labor and delivery to go. It is our job to fulfill those dreams as best we can to provide a safe and healthy delivery,” said Mrs. Quick.
“They are our future. They really are our future,” she said about babies born at CHI Health St. Francis.
Each month of 2017—to celebrate Nebraska’s 150th birthday—NEST will select a parent or legal guardian of a Nebraska newborn to receive a $529 contribution to a NEST account. The family will be chosen through a random drawing of entries submitted online to the NEST website or by mail.
The first NEST Birthday Baby was Carolyn Hotchkiss, daughter of Christina and Scott Hotchkiss of Omaha. The second Birthday Baby was Elijah Engel, son of Locke Engel and Rebecca Nelms of Waverly. In all, 12 newborns and their parents or guardians will be recognized throughout the year.
Parents and legal guardians may enter Nebraska NEST Birthday Babies at www.NEST529.com/NewbornDrawing. Entries will be accepted until January 10, 2018, for babies born in calendar year 2017. To allow time for babies born in late December to be entered, the final drawing will take place in early 2018. If a family’s name isn’t drawn in the month the family enters, the name will stay in the drawing throughout the year, giving families plenty of opportunities to be chosen.
Rules for the Nebraska NEST Birthday Babies can be found at www.NEST529.com/NewbornDrawing and treasurer.nebraska.gov/csp/scholarships/. Information about the Nebraska Sesquicentennial can be found at ne150.org.
About NEST
NEST is a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan and provides four plans to help make saving for college simple and affordable: NEST Direct College Savings Plan, the NEST Advisor College Savings Plan, the Bloomwell 529 Education Savings Plan, and the State Farm 529 Savings Plan. The Nebraska State Treasurer serves as Program Trustee. Union Bank & Trust Company serves as Program Manager, and all investments are approved by the Nebraska Investment Council. Families nationwide are saving for college using Nebraska’s 529 College Savings Plans, which have more than 285,000 accounts, including over 94,000 in Nebraska. Visit NEST529.com and treasurer.nebraska.gov for more information.
About First National Bank of Omaha
First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska. First National of Nebraska and its affiliates have more than $23 billion in assets and 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.
