One day this summer,  Jason Lockwood posed a question to longtime Kimball lawyer Darrel Huenergardt. What, he wondered, does it feel like to be more popular than Santa Claus?

The white bearded lawyer just shrugs, pointing out that people in the community are aware of his personality and character. In a close-knit town, he says, "you're not going to be a super hero for anything you do."

Huenergardt has been tasked with handing out close to $500,000 from the Dringman Trust to local groups, including $10,000 to the Kimball Concert Association, a non-profit, all volunteer organization headed by Lockwood. But the lawyer knows he's just a go-between, of sorts.

"Lillian [Dringman] was just interested in helping her community as much as she could," he explains.

Emerald and Lillian Dringman farmed south of Kimball for decades, moving into town after retirement. After her husband passed away, Huenergardt helped Lillian set up charitable remainder trust that would take care of her family and provide enough extra to help out a few local causes.

When the last family member died, the account had grown substantially.

So as representative of the trust, Huenergardt handed a check for $20,000 to Kimball Public Schools to support both the FFA and arts education--Dringman was a highly regarded amateur artist. He presented more than $90,000 to the Plains Historical Society, $7,500 to the Senior Friendship Center, another $7,500 to the Kimball Community Theatre, $10,000 to the VFW and so on.

"I'm not aware of anyone that has done that to that extent," Huenergardt says of the array of local donations from Dringman's trust. "It's a great thing for the community."

Recipients, for the most part, are stunned.

"We had no indication this gift was coming," says Kenneth Mars, local pastor and president of the Kimball Community Theatre. "At first it's a surprise and then there's a sense of satisfaction that people appreciate the arts."

The theatre group had only a few thousand dollars on hand to support their Farmer's Day melodrama, "Chaos at the Cannery." Lockwood's organization, which normally budgets $10,000 or more to bring in three or four concert performances a year, had been concerned about the future.

Finding orchestras willing to travel to Kimball for a finite amount of cash had always been the concert association's biggest challenge. "We'll put the money to good use," he insists.

Lynda Parson, pastor at the Trinity United Methodist Church, reacted with "great shock" when Huenergardt approached her with a donation of $125,000.

"He presented it at a service," she recalls. "Everybody was overwhelmed."

The trust stipulated the amount be used to catch up on projects, including replacing 30 windows. It frees the congregation to spend existing monies on mission work and ministries around the panhandle.

"To me it [the donation] means she had a strong belief in the community and wanted to keep it going," Parson says of Dringman and her financial gifts. "And it shows that faith was a great part of her life."

For his part, Huenergardt enjoys the expression on members' faces as he launches into the "I'd like to present you with" part of each presentation.

"It's kind of fun to see them sit in shocked silence," he explains.

But he also values the time spent with Dringman, talking over her interests and favorite organization.

"We got to be pretty good friends," he says.

Lockwood sums up the impact of half a million dollars working its way through community coffers: "It's a good thing all around."