Free weather radios to be given away Saturday in Cape

Thanks to a $1,000 donation from Saint Francis Healthcare System, 36 weather radios will be given away free — one per household until they're gone with a preference for Cape Girardeau County residents — at an event from noon until 6 p.m. Saturday at Orscheln Farm & Home, 11 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

Despite the Oct. 24 EF3 tornadoes that ripped through St. Mary and Fredericktown, Missouri, as well as Chester, Illinois, this event has been on the books for awhile, officials said.

"We've been planning this for about three months," said Mark Winkler, director of the Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Management.

"We hope to get more sponsors down the road so we can offer more weather radios to the public," he said Monday.

Midland WR120B units retail for around $30.

Local emergency management staff and representatives of the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky, will be on hand to help program the devices.

Sam Herndon V, emergency office's deputy director, gave credit to Jessica Sexton, the City of Cape Girardeau's assistant emergency management director.

"Jessica secured the giveaway location, reached out to Saint Francis and the NWS, plus she set up the day and time of the event," Herndon said.

"Effective emergency management, trying to keep people safe, is really a team effort and takes all of us," Winkler added.

Mark Winkler, left, and Sam Herndon V, right, the director and deputy director, respectively, of the Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Management, hold weather radios to be given out free Saturday at Orscheln Farm & Home, 11 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.Jeff Long