CIVIC CENTER WORK GOES ON WITHOUT CHIEF

In July, when Cape Civic Center director Calvin Bird left his job to start his own business, the center's 14-member board thought about hiring a replacement.

But the money wasn't there.

After six months of doing without, however, board President Ed Slaughter said center leaders learned early on that they could keep programs going without a director. The search for one was called off indefinitely.

"We would love to have more money, but things are still moving," Slaughter said Wednesday. "We can take that $19,000 yearly salary and put it into the programs and building."

Last year the center received $39,000 from the United Way to pay for the facility and improvements to it, the director's salary, liability insurance, program supplies and all the other expenses. Slaughter said the only way Cape Civic Center stays progressive is through volunteer work, careful budgeting and "creative financing."

Several Youth as Resources grants through the National Crime Prevention Council will help, too. Thanks to funding having been received, young people who attend the center's programs are remodeling the recreation area, constructing a rose garden in the parking lot and building a nursery for small children.

Young people, with plenty of adult supervision, must do the work.

"When the United Way funding was cut back last year, we realized we would hurt," board member Fred Pennington said. "But we aren't going to lay down. We appreciate what they do for us, but we have to work toward a more independent program.

"God knows we need as much programming as we can get to keep our young people off the streets."

Cape Civic Center serves approximately 450 young people ages 5 to 17 by housing the Optimist Basketball League and offering music, drug prevention and single-parent education programs.

The center's wish list includes a van for taking participants to and from programs and remodeled bathrooms. When a director is finally hired, Pennington and Slaughter said, it will mean all the renovations are complete and all the programs are in order.

The current board president, elected in 1991, is a testimony to the center's successes. Slaughter was one of the first children through its doors on South Sprigg Street in 1959. He went on to participate in high-school athletics and Southeast Missouri State University football. Slaughter later became a receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Today, he is a wellness specialist with Southeast Missouri Hospital.