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.
Rountree Neighborhood Association’s Sharon Taylor Gullett and Brentwood Neighborhood Association’s Pamela Buhr were among those recognized.
Gullett received a Top Act of Neighboring Best of MIssouri Award for leading her Rountree neighbors in their participation in the City of Springfield’s Lantern Walk Oct. 1. Gullett gathered neighbors to prep 500 luminaries to line a one-mile section of sidewalk leading to Rountree Elementary School and community garden. Lantern Walks encourage neighbors, schools, and families to build their lanterns and walk together along a designated route through the neighborhood beginning at sunset. The idea is to show off the lanterns and learn about safety at various stations along the way.
Buhr received the Most Engaged Neighbor Award for Springfield.
“When Pam moved into my neighborhood in 2014, she invited neighbors to her home so she and her husband could get to know everyone,” said Buhr’s neighbor, Johanna Cunningham, 84. “She continued to check in on me regularly. When new neighbors arrived, she would welcome them with a plate of fresh cookies. After my husband died last year, she visited or called me weekly, which has been instrumental my ability to stay in my home.”
Buhr helped organize the Brentwood Neighborhood Association, where she serves as treasurer. Last year, she applied for a grant from the City of Springfield for new playground equipment for Hawthorn Park, which was approved. She worked with the neighborhood association president to host a business festival in the park on Sept. 24.
“The day after the business festival, Pam and her husband Dave hosted a barbecue for all residents living on Rochelle Avenue. I believe 26 of the 34 neighbors were able to attend,” Cunningham said. “They used the event to introduce neighbors and handed each family a map of our street showing all the homes, addresses, names of homeowners, and telephone numbers of each adult in the household. This information has proven beneficial for many reasons. I can’t say enough about Pam and all the things she does for our neighborhood.”
Missourians 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.
The goal for the week was 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.
“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.
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.”