The Community Betterment and Arts Council of Houston has prepared its projects for the Missouri Community Betterment state competition this fall.
The statewide competition has not been held since 2020 because of the pandemic that kept many communities from meeting. Houston’s group has continued with projects throughout these years with its leadership and Houston High School Y.O.U.T.H. This year’s competition has projects completed during 2022.
The competition will be held through a Zoom meeting from 10 a.m. until noon Sept. 12. Judges for Houston are Jeffrey Korman, Jefferson City; and Tanya Watson, Buffalo.
The 2022 projects that will be presented are the Don Tottingham Run, which provided a $500 scholarship for a HHS senior, planting daffodils led by community adults and funded by the Houston Community Foundation, The Polar Express which provided a movie and outdoor Christmas experience for children, Stuff the Bus which netted more than 300 boxes of tissue to Houston Schools and the Good Neighbor Day in conjunction with D & L Florist and sponsors that provided 3,500 roses and a Good Neighbor Movie at the Melba.
The Houston High School Youth entered two projects: “Pack a Punch,” filling bags of food for elementary children to take home on Fridays; and the daffodils project that the youth worked all day in bitter temperatures and snowy weather in March to plant daffodils.
The MCB 2023 Conference will be Oct. 23 in Columbia at the Bradford Research Farm.
The Community Betterment and Arts Council members are Jim and Wilda McNiell, Delbert and Elaine Campbell, Phil and Linda Bailey, Bennie Cook, Emily Bailey, Shannon Nunnery, Judy Rouse, Kay Jordan and Ann Tottingham. Crystal Ford is the youth sponsor.