AREA VOLUNTEERS HONORED

Lance Cassout and Bess Estes of Cape Girardeau have been recognized as state winners of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Volunteer Award.

The awards were given out Friday in St. Louis. Cassout and Estes were among 50 Missourians who competed for the honors.

The award "recognizes outstanding volunteers who serve Missouri with the continuing gift of time," said Craig Felzien, area manager for Southwestern Bell Telephone.

Cassout received the Youth Volunteer Award. At 17, he has worked for three years and logged close to 2,000 volunteer hours at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He works primarily in food service.

Estes received the Senior Volunteer Award. Also a volunteer at St. Francis, Estes has logged 16,000 hours of volunteer time.

The awards are sponsored by Southwestern Bell and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"We're pleased to sponsor an annual event in honor of grassroots volunteerism throughout the state of Missouri," said Felzien. "Our community is greatly dependent on its dedicated volunteers."

Rena Ellis of Dexter also received a Senior Volunteer Award and the Sears Youth Center of Poplar Bluff received a Group Volunteer Award. The Sears center is a community-service organization that helps disadvantaged teens.