Most people or organizations don't get enough credit for what they do for the public good.
Granted, all people and organizations do things we may not appreciate, but they wouldn't last long if they messed up too often.
Recently I mentioned to the Neosho Chamber of Commerce that with all the excitement about the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, I had not seen much locally. I thought the folks at the local Rocketdyne plant should be honored and remembered because they actually made the big jet engines that sent America to the moon.
The folks at the chamber agreed they should do something and thanked me for suggesting it. Then about a week later, they called back and asked if I would write a short piece about the moon landing and Neosho's role in it.
When I sent the piece to them, I included a disc with pictures of the Rocketdyne plant and many of its workers. I thought they would pick out three or four photos to run with the piece on their website.
They ran all the 282 pictures that I sent.
It turned out to be a spectacular idea. People began looking at the chamber website and, at last count, there were 680 likes, 170 comments, and 950 shares. That means that 950 people forward it to friends and relatives, many of whom put it on their FACEBOOK page so the number of people who saw it was pretty staggering.
Many who commented were former Rocketdyne employees or their children, and everyone was happy to find the article and pictures. The feedback was wonderful for the chamber and for me. It was great to find so many people who were happy and grateful to see their parents or friends working in the plant. Many a memory was jogged.
Quite frankly, it made my day each time I checked the chamber's page and saw the numbers rising.
Just between you and me, I had hoped the chamber would remember Neosho's role in the moon landing by having a lunar theme for the Christmas parade or maybe sponsoring a Moonlight Madness sale downtown this fall. Boy, did they do better—they shot for the moon!
The moon landing was a magical moment for Neosho, and it was a moment that will stand out forever in the town's history.
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