Bloomfield, MO - The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce held their annual 2020 Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 12th at the Assembly of God Church.
William and Cathy Chasteen have been married for 47 years and residents of Bloomfield their whole lives.
Cathy graduating from Bloomfield High in 1973 and William graduating in 1971. They have two children Heather White and Michael Chasteen along with 4 grandchildren and are members of Trinity United Methodist Church where they host a mobile food bank.
Cathy serves as a chairperson there where she organizes staffing and recipients while William works unloading the truck and carrying groceries.
Cathy and William have also been delivering Meals on Wheels for 11 years.
Along with the before mentioned William and Cathy funded and set up a closet to help with the need for clothing for foster children. They provide each child with at least 3 complete outfits and other items such as coats, bedding, school supplies and personal items. They recently have expanded the closet to include prom dresses.
Their most recent mission has been becoming mentors to students at the local school, where they will continue to meet with their children every other week throughout the school year.
Bloomfield, MO - The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce held their annual 2020 Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 12th at the Assembly of God Church.
Justin along with his wife, McKenna, and their two children live in Bloomfield and he has been on the Bloomfield Fire Department since 2001. He has been a first responder since 2003 and employed by the city of Bloomfield since 2012.
He has served on the Stoddard County Ambulance Board of Directors since April of 2019 and is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church of Bloomfield where he has served on the Church Leadership Council since January of 2019.
Justin truly cares about his community and spending numerous hours volunteering his time.
Congratulations Justin on being the 2020 Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Department of Public Safety Personnel of the Year!
Pictured from left to right are Herman Morse, 151st State Representative, Justin Bell, and Amy Haas, Chamber President.
Bloomfield, MO - The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce held their annual 2020 Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 12th at the Assembly of God Church.
Huel Benton Jr. was born in Romance, Arkansas and moved with his family to Missouri when he was 3 years old. In 1950 he married Maudie House. This December they will have been married 70 years.
Huel grew up helping on family farms and in 1952 he and Maudie made their first crop. In December of 1954 they moved to Stoddard County to rent a larger farm and in 1958 they bought their first farm. By then, they had also added two daughters and a son.
In 1965, they bought a cattle farm outside of Bloomfield. Huel always liked cattle and that farm gave him something to do in the winter.
Maudie helped on the farm and continued some farm work even after going to work full-time at Federal Mogul in Malden.
In 1995 Huel retired from row crop farming. They made their home at the edge of Bloomfield so that he could continue to work the cattle at his farm and watch their row crop farm acreage that is now rented to other farmers, including the daughter of one of his original renters.
In a few weeks, all three of Huel and Maudie's children will be retired. In addition to them, they have five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Huel says that cold weather is hard on his bones so he tires to spend time in warmer places. His love of working cattle may soon be replaced by spending more cold weather days where it is much warmer.
Pictured from left to right: Karen Griffin, Bloomfield Chamber Board Member/Secretary/Treasurer, Huel Benton, Jr., Herman Morse, 151st State Representative (MO), Amy Haas, Chamber President.
Bloomfield, MO - The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce held their annual 2020 Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 12th at the Assembly of God Church.
Madison Cox was named the 2020 Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Recipient.
She is a senior at Bloomfield High School and is the daughter of Roger and Sharon Cox.
She is currently ranked second in her class and is active in Sr. Beta, Future Business Leaders of America and Student Council. She is also a member of the Lady Wildcats Basketball Team.
Her future plans are to attend Southeast Missouri State University - Cape Girardeau and then transfer to the Southeast Health College of Nursing majoring in applied Science and become a certified radiologic technologist.
Bloomfield, MO - The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce held their annual 2020 Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 12th at the Assembly of God Church.
Julie Dodd was named 2020 Teacher of the Year.
She and her husband, James Dodd, live in Bloomfield with their two children Jameson and Molliann.
Julie has taught at Bloomfield Elementary for 22 years and all but one year as a kindergarten teacher.
"To say she has made an impact on the future of our community is an understatement," commented Toni Hill, Bloomfield Chamber Board Member and Superintendent of Bloomfield Schools.
Mrs. Dod hold an event each year to raise money for 18Fore Life and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation when in 2009 Clause for a Cause was founded. She began raising money by taking pictures with Santa. In just 11 short years she has helped raise over $110,000 for charity through her pictures with Santa program, shirt sales and sponsors.
Congratulations to Julie Dodd, 2020 Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year!
Pictured from left to right are Toni Hill, Julie Dodd, Herman Morse, 151st State Representative, and Amy Haas, Bloomfield Chamber President.
