“Betterment: The act or process of improving something.”
This definition certainly applies to the work of a group of volunteers who are helping to improve their rural southeast Kansas community.
Danny Scott is with the Caney Community Betterment Group Foundation. He told of how Caney has made progress, thanks to the Kansas PRIDE Program, First Impressions, Rural Grocery Initiative, the City of Caney and members of the community.
Danny and his wife Norma have rural roots. They grew up in Chautauqua County near the rural community of Niotaze, population 82 people. Now, that’s rural.
Danny and Norma were in 4-H together and went to K-State before getting married. He started working at the bank in Caney during the summers and joined the bank full-time after earning his ag economics degree. He then worked for a computer network company in Coffeyville before coming back to Caney’s Community National Bank & Trust, from which he retired in 2019. He had become quite concerned about the community’s trajectory.
“Caney was running downhill,” Danny said. Downtown businesses were boarded up, the grocery store had closed, the town’s old swimming pool was leaking, and the chamber of commerce closed down. “It was discouraging,” Danny said.
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