17 Missourians Recognized with Statewide Awards Following First Missouri Good Neighbor Week



The first statewide awards for Missouri Good Neighbor Week were announced on Oct. 20, 2022, by the joint sponsors of the campaign: University of Missouri Extension Greene County and The Hopeful Neighborhood Project headquartered in St. Louis.

Missourians from all walks of life celebrated the first Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept. 28 to Oct. 4) by doing and reporting neighboring acts and nominating others as the most engaged neighbors in their respective counties.

Statewide, MU Extension county councils will do county-level recognition in counties where residents submitted actions or made nominations. This recognition will vary among counties. In Greene County, the local extension office will send each local award winner a check and certificate.

The goal for the week had been to document 10,000 acts of neighboring. But instead, Missourians reported 12,594 acts of neighboring during Missouri Good Neighbor Week. Greene County had the most submissions, accounting for nearly 4,000 of the acts of neighboring.

During the week, there were also 40,765 visits to MissouriGoodNeighborWeek.com webpage and over 290,000 social media views on posts related to Missouri Good Neighbor Week

"I love discussing these acts of neighboring. These are the stories that do not normally make the news but are the behaviors that are impactful to our own health, community, and democracy," said David Burton, community development specialist, University of Missouri Extension.

According to Jennifer Prophete, program director for The Hopeful Neighborhood Project, reading about neighboring acts across Missouri was inspiring.

"There were big events like the rose giveaway in Houston and simpler efforts across the state," said Prophete. "Every story of an individual going out of their way for their neighbors was inspiring. Great job, Missourians!"

For the first time, participants also had the opportunity to nominate their neighbors as the most engaged neighbor in Missouri. By the end of the week, organizers had received nominations or reports of neighboring from 63 of Missouri's 114 counties.

With 115 nominations, the judges decided to expand the awards to the top 10 percent of nominations. Every person nominated received a $10 Amazon card and some neighboring items from The Hopeful Neighborhood Project.

When judging the statewide nominations, the committee leaned heavily toward individuals that received more than one nomination.

"The quality of the nominations exceeded our expectations which is why we could not narrow them down to just the top three statewide," said Burton. "We know some individuals will also be honored at the county level, but the example of these top 11 nominations are worthy as examples to all of us statewide as we strive to become more engaged neighbors."

The 2022 recipients of the Most Engaged Neighbor award for Missouri are as follows.

Acts of Neighboring Category

·       Best of Missouri Award -- Sharon Taylor Gullett of Springfield, Mo.

·       Best of Rural Missouri Award – Sonja Baldwin, Highlandville, Mo.

·       Best of Urban Missouri Award -- Susan Peck of Maplewood, Mo

·       Diversity in Neighboring Award -- Cheree Trent Mills of St. Louis, Mo.

·       Judges Choice Award -- Shari McCallister of Houston, Mo. 

·       Best of Missouri (Youth Award) -- Anna Sophia Pennock, Webb City, Mo.

 

Most Engaged Neighbor in Missouri

·       Alyssa and Bobby Smith (Albany, Missouri, in Gentry County)

·       Echo Alexzander (Highlandville, Missouri, in Christian County)

·       Jasper  Kayla Henderson (Webb City, Missouri and Jasper County)

·       Sierra Lerma (Salem, Missouri and Dent County)

·       Philip Weidinger (Columbia, Missouri in Boone County)

·       Shari McCallister (Houston, Missouri in Texas County)

·       Pam Schultz (Ewing, Missouri in Lewis County)

·       Olivia Oglesby (Kirkwood, Missouri in St. Louis County)

·       Tom Gibson (Kirkwood, Missouri in St. Louis County)

·       Lee Howard (Lamar, Missouri in Barton County)

·       Pamela S. Buhr (Springfield, Missouri in Greene County)

 

A detailed explanation about each honoree can be found at the end of this media release.

MORE INFORMATION

Missouri's Governor signed legislation HB1738 on July 1, 2022, establishing the special week.

The celebration period begins on Sept. 28, which is also National Good Neighbor Day (first created in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter). The week is jointly organized by University of Missouri Extension and the Hopeful Neighborhood Project.

Neighboring is the art and skill of building relationships with the people who live in the closest proximity to you. Being a good neighbor offers tremendous health benefits, reduces crime, reduces loneliness, combats depression, improves communities, and improves the quality of life.

For more information contact David Burton, community development specialist with University of Missouri Extension by phone at (417) 881-8909 or by email at burtond@missouri.edu. Jennifer Prophete, program director for the Hopeful Neighborhood Project can be emailed at Jennifer.prophete@lhm.org.

The Engaged Neighbor program is on MU Extension's website at http://extension.missouri.edu, and David Burton can be reached by email at burtond@missouri.edu. You can also learn more about the Hopeful Neighborhood Project online at https://www.hopefulneighborhood.org.

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