HELPING PEOPLE READ GOAL OF YELL SPONSORS

Leave it to Beaver Cleaver to put literacy into the most definable of terms.

"If you can't read," said the Beav (Jerry Mathers, who played a starring role in the vintage television sitcom, "Leave it to Beaver"), "then, how are you going to know what's on TV."

Area companies are interested in helping children read, not for the weekly TV schedule, but to discover the lifelong joy of reading for pleasure and information.

More than 1 million Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 can't read. Another 29 million Americans, including adults, read so poorly their day-to-day lifestyle suffers.

For those people, the writing of a check, reading of newspapers or writing the simplest of letters are frustrating tasks.

Nationally, the figures get scarier. There are as may as 780 million in the world who can't read or write. In some foreign countries, as many as 80 percent of the population are illiterate.

Only 5 percent of the population in the Bhutan area of Asia can read. Only 20 percent of the population in the Congo area of Africa can read. The statistics are little better in many other African nations.

The United States, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark and Finland are at the other end of the spectrum, thanks to a number of programs, including "Adult Basic Education" and "Right to Read."

"Reading is so important," said Dennis Marchi, manager of Schnucks Food & Drug, 19 S. Kingshighway.

Everything is tied into reading, added Marchi, who was a member of a committee which developed the YELL program in 1991 to encourage and aid reading in the Cape Girardeau area.

Marchi and Schnucks, along with a number of other businesses, have joined the Southeast Missourian in the support of the Area Untied Way and YELL in the new YELL program.

"Literacy is important to our society," said Marchi. "And, everything is tied into reading. "It scares me seeing so many people who don't know how to read."

"We're concerned about education," said Harry Rediger, manager of JCPenney, West Park Mall. "With education as a priority, one of the first things you think about is literacy and learning through reading...that's where it all begins."

JCPenney, said Rediger, participates in a number of programs both locally and nationally to help encourage reading by individuals.

"Reading is a critical skill needed in any industrial and commercial environments as well as everyday life," said Larry A. Stahlman, a public affairs spokesman at Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company here.

"We're a sponsor of YELL and encourage all schools to take parta in the programs offered," said Stahlman.

Target Stores, which has a number of community programs to strengthen families.

"Literacy and education are important," said Carolyn Brookter, a spokesman for Target from its headquarters at Minneapolis. "We partner with schools, we have numerous educational programs, and we offer scholarships."

Target, said Brookter, looks to average students. "They don't have to be the best in their class to receive a scholarship," said Brookter. "But, we do want students who are involved in the community."

A Target store opened in Cape Girardeau this year.

Marchi, Rediger, Stahlman and Brookter agree that books, magazines and newspapers widen the world for individuals.

The program is in its fourth year, and has been a great success," Marchi said. "People involved in YELL are getting the word out to students that reading is fun. And, we're getting the newspapers in the school through Newspapers in Education (NIE), where students can become a part of that fun."