COMMUNITY CARING COUNCIL HONORS AGENCIES

The Community Caring Council honored the Cape Girardeau County Division of Family Services and Community Counseling Center with Community Partnership Awards Friday at the council's seventh annual Caring Conference.

"These are organizations that best exemplify the goals and ideals of the Community Caring Council," said state Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, a founder and longtime supporter of the council. "These organizations are also active partners in collaborative efforts that work to bring results for families and children."

Roger Henry, executive director of the Community Counseling Center, and Paul Schniedermeyer, division director for the center, accepted the Community Partnership Award for their agency.

Frances Gould, director, accepted the award for the Cape County Division of Family Services, a charter member of the Community Caring Council.

Kasten said DFS staff have been "invaluable in the efforts of Community Caring Council, in completing the council's goals, in changing the way business is done."

The counseling center and DFS provide personnel and services to help coordinate programs offered through the Community Caring Council, she said.

The council is made up of more than 98 agencies, organizations and individuals working together on a variety of issues, including aging, children's issues, employment, finances, health and transportation.

The council acts as a facilitator to help coordinate services offered by those agencies and organizations, said Shirley Ramsey, executive coordinator of the Community Caring Council.

Coordinators of four programs offered through the council also gave updates on their projects.

Dr. Bill Bourns, a criminal justice professor at Southeast Missouri State University and coordinator of the TRIAD program, said he and Cape County Sheriff John Jordan will speak at the first SALT (Seniors and Lawmen Together) national conference, which is coming up in Austin, Texas.

SALT, a community policing effort, is sponsored by the American Association of Retired People, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Sheriffs Association, and Cape County's program is the first in the nation, Bourns said.

Program organizers are looking at ways to enhance 911 service for seniors by adding "windows" of information such as whether a bedridden person is in the home for emergency services personnel, he said.

Sheldon Tyler, director of the Cape Girardeau public schools' alternative education center, said 24 students are now enrolled in the half-day program, which is offered for students who might otherwise drop out of high school.

The pilot program has a capacity of 30 students and is now housed in the Salvation Army's building, Tyler said.

As he has worked with the students, Tyler said, "I'm beginning to find out a lot more about human beings, that they can have a lot of problems that they don't get themselves into. I can only have 30 (students), but those are 30 who can do something to change their lives."

Janice Jones, coordinator of the Educare program, said staff are working with local schools, health agencies and child-care providers to help "get children ready for school and schools ready for children."

The Community Caring program is getting ready to expand into the Washington, Jefferson and Franklin schools in Cape Girardeau, said Jo Boyer, program coordinator.

Community Caring is now operational in May Greene School, where an on-site counselor and social worker are available to work with students and their families.