Stinky Problem Delays Fundraiser - FOX 42: Omaha News, Sports and Weather; kptm.com |

Curt Casper

OMAHA (KPTM) - It's an old store with a new look. Benson Plant Rescue was planning to host a chili feed fundraiser this past Sunday, but ran into a squirmy and stinky problem.

The Rescue takes unwanted plants and resells or donates them.

"The bottom line in society is you have to give back," says Dr. David Hiblier, a plant and worm specialist involved with the rescue.

The rescue is now also considered the biggest wormery in Omaha.

Dr. Hiblier takes unwanted produce and feeds it to the worms. After a couple of months, the worms create a casting, that casting is fertilizer that goes to gardens to grow more produce.

"And the circle goes around, it's an environmental circle, it goes around," Dr. Hiblier says.

There was, however, a problem with the worms he says. "There are only words I can say on TV so let's just say it had an unpleasant aroma."

Just outside the freezer filled with worms was where the fundraiser was going to be held. Dr. Hiblier says no one was going to want to eat chili with that smell present. "The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry," he says.

 Even with the smell, Dr. Hiblier never thought about stopping the wormery, because the worms have value. "You get a chance to see a difference and you can take something from nothing recycle something that was otherwise a throw away in society and turn it into a benefit for others."