Community Foundation of the Ozarks

Barbara Brown may always wonder whether her friend Andrea Standlee could have been saved if the rescue crews who arrived at her crash scene near Blue Eye had been equipped with fire extinguishers to use when the small pickup truck burst into flames.

Andrea Standlee

So Brown has established a new fund through the Table Rock Lake Community Foundation – the Andrea Standlee Memorial Fund - with a goal of purchasing fire extinguishers for the vehicles of about 130 volunteer firefighters in Stone County.

A May graduate of Blue Eye, Standlee was killed in a one-car crash on Missouri 86 on her way to class at Ozarks Technical Community College on the morning of Sept. 14. She missed a curve and her small pickup overturned and hit some trees. She survived the crash and was coherent and talking to rescuers when the car caught on fire, Brown said. But no one at the scene had a fire extinguisher available and Standlee, 18, died before rescuers could free her.

“This was truly something that I think could have been avoided,” she said. “I don’t know that absolutely for sure. But when the accident happened, she was talking. She was able to want out of there.”

Brown said she was surprised to learn that volunteer firefighters in many areas don’t carry fire extinguishers. She said she learned it was a budget issue, but that if she could develop private resources, volunteer departments would welcome the equipment.

Her initial goal is to raise about $7,000 to equip Stone County first responders with the fire extinguishers, mounting brackets, recharging equipment and training on proper use. Any additional money raised will be used to do the same for Taney County volunteers and eventually spread to other areas of the Ozarks.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Dan Bracker commends Brown on her efforts. He said fire extinguishers are standard equipment for Highway Patrol cars and are used in a range of situations from serious accidents to grass fires. While he doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of Andrea Standlee’s crash, he said an extinguisher can either suppress a fire or keep it from growing long enough to attempt a rescue.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “I hope she can catapult this to provide them across the region. Those volunteer first responders out there should appreciate the efforts she is making to get them equipped with fire extinguishers.”

Contributions to the Andrea Standlee Memorial Fund can be made to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, 425 E. Trafficway, Springfield, Mo., 65806, or by donating online.

At a recent Ozarks Food Harvest Mobile Pantry in Joplin, 150 people received eggs, cheese, meat, bread, cereal, Gatorade, and snack foods to feed their families

CFO affiliates raised $105,000 and received $100,000 in matching funds from the Walmart State Foundation to fight chronic hunger in their communities.

A total of 19 affiliates successfully completed the Challenge Grant, which is being channeled primarily through the Ozarks Food Harvest, which has a 28-county service area that largely mirrors the CFO’s region.

The CFO affiliates that completed the Hunger Challenge are: Aurora, Bolivar, Cassville, DACO (Dade County), Dallas County, El Dorado Springs, Finley River (Ozark area), Houston, Jacks Fork, Southwest Missouri (Carthage-Joplin area), Marshfield, Nixa, Oregon County, Seymour, Stockton, Table Rock Lake, Taney County, and West Plains.

The Wal-Mart State Foundation State Giving Program selected the Ozarks Food Harvest for its challenge grant program last year, which began in response to the national report – “Hunger in America 2010” – describing the extent to which hunger plagues Ozarks communities. An estimated 155,000 Ozarkers face chronic hunger issues, according to the report.

For more information, see the full  Hunger Challenge news release .

The Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Community Foundation are partnering this summer to celebrate both visual and musical arts with special performances in five Ozarks communities this month.

Springfield public radio station, KSMU, aired a June 14 report on the program, which is made possible through the CFO’s Ozark Plateau Initiative to bring visiting artists to rural communities.

Shell Knob hosted a performance by Jim and Kim Lansford Saturday, June 12, to accompany the exhibition “This Contest is for Real Hands: Rodeo Photographs of the 1930s,” which continues at the Old Church Gallery through June 15.

Mountain Grove also hosted an “Opry-style” performance Saturday, June 12, by Les Gillham, to go with the “The Grand Ole Opry” exhibit, which continues through June 15 at the Mountain Grove Senior Center. The local history and Arts Councils developed this project to coincide with Mountain Grove’s community fair.

Willard’s exhibition – “Apron Strings: Ties to the Past” – continues at Rocco’s Italian Restaurant through June 15. Colleen Mallette performed there to accompany the exhibit.

Eldon also chose “The Grand Ole Opry” as its exhibition, which will run from June 21-25 at the Senior Center of Eldon. Jim and Kim Lansford will perform on June 25 at the Senior Center.

Houston selected the “Apron Strings” exhibition, which will run from June 23-July 7 in conjunction with Licking’s summer Rodeo, along with a performance to be announced.

The Ozark Plateau Initiative, created in 2005 through leadership provided by Springfield philanthropist Sally Baird, undertook this project with the Mid-America Arts Alliance to serve CFO’s regional affiliate communities. Since its inception, programs have taken place in Salem, Seymour, West Plains, Cuba, Stockton, Forsyth, Gainesville, Poplar Bluff, Carthage, Clinton, Hermitage, Mt. Vernon, Marshfield and Ozark. The Missouri Arts Council has joined the partnership by providing resources to continue the program for more communities in the future.