Several years ago, when Idabel was ready for some group to step forward to help beautify the community on a year-round basis, it was an extraordinary group of kids under the banner of Project READY that answered the call. Established to provide recreational and educational alternatives to drugs for at-risk kids ages 6 to 18, the 200 children in Project READY are a vital component in Idabel’s pleasing new appearance.

Each month finds them busily picking up trash on their adopted streets, plus they do general clean-ups of large areas before most of the large-scale community events. When the signs and fences at the Broken Bow Little League baseball field needed painting, the Project READY members were right there, brushes in hand.

Our judges praised this youth program of the Idabel Housing Authority for its ability to reach and teach a large number of kids the value of volunteerism while cleaning and beautifying the community. PROJECT READY IS GOOD NEWS FOR KIDS, FOR IDABEL AND FOR OKLAHOMA’S ENVIRONMENT!