John Poyner didn't want a Noel neighbor to fall on an uneven sidewalk.
After noticing some elderly people cautiously trying to walk on a broken surface, he asked fellow Noel Betterment Association members to improve a city sidewalk that is in disrepair.
"I was at the funeral for my wife's grandfather a few months back and was watching elderly people navigate the severely broken and uneven sidewalks and thought that was where we needed to start," Poyner said.
The board agreed.
Board members are working on the sidewalk in front of the Ozark Funeral Home and in front of the Noel Methodist Church.
Arvest Bank contributed a donation last year, providing for the bulk of the funding, he said. The funeral home and the Methodist Church have contributed to the project, as well as Lewis and Faye Davis.
Poyner and other Betterment Association board members have donated their time and labor to tear out the old sidewalks and hired a local contractor to pour new ones.
"We hope to replace them section by section as funds allow," Poyner said.
A local ballot issue was voted down in early April that would have funded, in part, sidewalk improvement. Poyner said the initiative was not launched in response to that issue's disapproval.
"We're doing it because it needs to be done."
Members also plan to plant some trees.
Anyone wanting to donate money or labor to the project may email the association at noelbetterment@gmailcom.
General News on 04/25/2019