MALDEN BANK BOOSTS BOOTHEEL EDUCATION CENTER

MALDEN - Officials of First Community Bank of Malden recently donated $5,000 to the Bootheel Education Center (BEC), which BEC Citizens Advisory Committee officials say will be used for the addition of a second computer laboratory.

Bank President Charles Rushing presented the funds to officials of the BEC and Southeast Missouri State University in January.

"We are quite interested in the education of students in our area," Rushing said.

"The Bootheel Education Center has been a real asset to the area. We feel the center benefits all of our customers in all of our locations, not just in Malden."

First Community Bank has four locations in Malden, Bernie, Campbell and Holcomb.

A fifth location in Poplar Bluff is under way, Rushing said.

Janet Carter, co-director of the BEC, said the center is pleased with the donation.

"This donation is typical of the type of community support we see at the Bootheel

Education Center," she said. "It is typical of the type of commitment we see from businesses in this community."

Dr. Sheila Caskey, Southeast interim provost, echoed her sentiments.

"We couldn't do what we've done at the center, at a time when state appropriations are shrinking, if it weren't for the support we get from the community," Caskey said.

Pat Morehead, chairman of the BEC Citizens Advisory Committee, said First Community Bank is "cognizant" of the role the BEC plays in educating residents in the Bootheel region. She said the donation will help fill a need at the center.

"The need for additional computers is so great," she said.

Morehead said the undesignated donation will be used to help pay for a new computer lab. The lab will house 20 computers with hard drives and 10 printers, Carter said. The BEC currently has one 20-station computer laboratory.

The BEC provides classroom and administrative facilities for a consortium established in 1981 by Southeast Missouri State University, Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, the University of Missouri Extension and four area vocational schools. The consortium was formed to provide post-secondary education opportunities to residents of the Missouri Bootheel.