Bell steps down as Community Services chief

For 27 years — 22 of them as executive director — Maryville resident David R. Bell has worked to help Community Services Inc. fulfill its goal of "empowering the people of need in northwest Missouri to achieve their goals and improve their quality of life."

Now, as Bell retires, the responsibility for carrying the agency's mission of hope and compassion forward across the five-county area is passing to another social service veteran, Community Services Deputy Director Bonnie Patterson.

Co-workers at the agency, which serves individuals and families in Nodaway, Holt, Gentry, Worth and Atchison counties, gathered at the Maryville Community Services office Wednesday afternoon to shake hands, eat cake, tell stories and offer congratulations to a man who has dedicated his professional life to helping the less fortunate.

Reluctant to talk about himself, the unassuming Bell nevertheless looked back with satisfaction on the years he has spent helping families survive tough times while learning to progress toward a brighter, more secure future.

"It's very gratifying," he said. "You really can't put it into words — you're making other people's lives much more bearable."

Bell said Community Services concentrates most of its efforts on working families, who, in a rural area stricken with endemic poverty, are often forced to subsist on one or two minimum-wage salaries.

"It's just not enough for a lot of people," he said.

In addition, unlike many metropolitan areas where numerous agencies exist, Community Services is often the sole option for people who need a hand up.

"It's very important," said the Maryville High School graduate and former Navy corpsman. "There is nobody else to offer the services that we supply."

With 12 offices and around 50 full-time staff scattered across its service area, Community Services operates seven Head Start centers; helps people obtain decent, affordable housing; and administers a weatherization assistance program.

Weatherization, among CSI's more visible efforts, helps low-income residents cut utility costs by providing caulking, weather-stripping, efficient furnaces and insulation for apartments, mobile homes, duplexes and single-family dwellings.

Other CSI services include programs funded through Community Services Block Grants, which in past years have provided funds for Nodaway County's Habitat for Humanity initiative, the Mission Possible thrift store and food pantry in Worth County, a computer skills learning lab in Atchison County, and the Step Up to Leadership program, which trains lower-income citizens for participation in civic groups and community affairs.

In addition to supervising the various CSI programs, Bell also steered the agency through its move in 1999 to a modern office complex in the 1200 block of South Main and the re-housing in improved facilities of all seven Head Start operations.

The responsibility for continuing CSI's work now falls to Patterson, who joined the agency 22 years ago as an accounts payable and payroll clerk before assuming her the deputy director's spot, which embraces responsibility for finance and human resources.