Houston won Monday night at the Missouri Community Betterment Program awards banquet in Columbia.
The town placed second in its population category. Community Betterment and Arts Council’s youth group also took second.
Twenty-one communities and 10 community leaders were honored at the 93rd annual conference
Makayla Koch, who is state president of the Missouri Community Betterment Youth organization, won a Youth Leadership Award.
Elaine Campbell leads adult attendees in a fun trivia event, Caterpillars and Butterflies, last fall at the state conference.
Houston’s 2016 projects included the Houston Community Kitchen, Lone Star Annex, Pregnancy Resource Center of South Central Missouri, Lynch-Tweed Civil War House, Texas County Food Pantry solar panels and youth projects. The Houston projects totaled more than $307,000, which included $135,000 in grants. Other donations came from community groups, businesses and individuals.
Winning the grand prize in the state was Cameron. Other winners in Houston’s population category were: St. James, first; Louisiana, third; Fayette, fourth; and Malden, fifth.
Houston presented the evening adult networking session of “Caterpillars and Butterflies” led by Elaine Campbell, Wilda McNiell, Delbert Campbell and Jim McNiell.
The awards event is an integral part of the MCB program, which is administered by the Missouri Community Betterment Educational Fund, which is a not-for profit organization made up of businesses, public utilities, community representatives, federal and state agencies and individuals. From 2008-2016 MCB communities poured more than $425.7 million back into their local economies through their community development projects.
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EARLIER: Houston was among winners Monday night at the Missouri Community Betterment Program awards banquet in Columbia.
The community placed second in its population category. Community Betterment and Arts Council’s youth group also took second.
Makayla Koch won a Youth Leadership Award.