MANY GOOD REASONS TO BUY YELL PAPER

There's an altruistic reason for buying a copy of the YELL edition when it is sold on street corners Tuesday morning.

Money raised through street sales and sponsorships in the form of ads in the once-a-year newspaper edition, which can be purchased for a donation of $2 or more, go to fund area literacy projects through the YELL (Youth Education Literacy and Learning) Foundation.

But there are also selfish reasons to buy one or more copies. Coupons that can be redeemed for prizes will be inserted into random copies of the paper.

There are 944 prizes, ranging in value from $1 to $135. That's a one in 11 chance of winning something, which are pretty good odds. Prizes include St. Louis Cardinal tickets, Mark McGwire collectibles, one-nights stays at the Regal Riverfront Hotel in St. Louis, SEMO football tickets, concert tickets, gift certificates, restaurant meals, movie passes and newspaper subscriptions.

There's also the entertainment value of this year's YELL edition, which has a millennium theme and offers looks back at the past and forward into the future.

The view to the future is provided by area students who, as third-graders last spring, wrote essays about their predictions for the coming millennium. They predict flying cars and being able to get driver's licenses at age 6. They foresee computerized teachers who can be unplugged and bats that knock baseballs out of the park with the push of a button.

Offering a look back are a time line of the area's history and historical front pages from the Daily Republic and Southeast Missourian. Among the major events reported on these pages are the endings of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, and World War II on May 8, 1945; the dedication of the Cape Bridge crossing the Mississippi, Sept. 3, 1928; the assassination of President Kennedy, Nov. 23, 1963; astronauts leaving the moon, July 21, 1969; the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, Jan. 24, 1973; and Mark McGwire's record-breaking 62nd home run, Sept. 9, 1998.

Providing glimpses of the past and present are pictures and stories readers sent in about their families.

Karen Green, president of the board of the YELL Foundation, which coordinates fund-raisers and awards literacy grants, said the millennium theme was a natural for this year, since we are approaching the end of the 1900s and the beginning of the 2000s.

In keeping with that theme, this year's YELL edition, along with other items, will be buried in a time capsule Tuesday evening. The time capsule will be buried in a ceremony that will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 14 at Arena Park. Plans are to open it in 2050.

"Hopefully, the millennium edition will be a keepsake that readers will want to buy several copies of to pass down to their children," said Kim McDowell of the Southeast Missourian and a board member of the YELL Foundation.

The push to sell multiple copies is because money received from the sale of the special YELL edition funds programs run by local educators and organizations that help promote reading, McDowell said.

Last year, YELL Day raised $44,000, which was divided among 24 grant recipients.

The grants help with the literacy needs of nearly every age group, said Nancy Jernigan, a YELL Foundation board member and executive director of United Way. Recipients include programs for students in preschool, elementary and high school and adults.

To raise even more money, in the past year the YELL Foundation received designation as a non-profit organization, which allows tax deductions for YELL donations.

It also allows the YELL Foundation to apply for grants from other foundations that support literacy efforts. Many of these foundations work with private corporations like Walmart and Dollar General.

YELL hopes to receive such grants, then pass on the money to literacy programs in the area.

"There is so much grant money available," Green said. "You just have to ask for it."

The YELL Foundation has begun some new fund-raisers this year, Green said. One is the banner page running Saturdays in the Southeast Missourian. Each Saturday employees of businesses that donate at least $200 to YELL are pictured in the mast head of the paper holding a banner for the Southeast Missourian. The fund-raiser, which began in August and will run through June, is expected to raise $10,000.

An upcoming fund-raiser planned for the spring is a spelling bee for area professionals.

But the largest fund-raiser remains the annual YELL Day, held each year on the Tuesday of SEMO District Fair week. Hundreds of volunteers rise early that day to be at their designated corner by 6:30 a.m. to begin selling the paper in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Gordonville, Fruitland, Scott City and Chaffee.

Once funds are in and counted, Green and others on a grant committee look through applications to decide how YELL funds will be spent.

"The main thing we look at is how many will be served through the grant," Green said. "We look for programs that will benefit the largest number of people in the community."

A large number of people in the community have been served by those grants. In the past eight years, sales of YELL papers and sponsorship of ads in the edition have raised more than $300,000 and all was used for literacy programs.

FUNDS FOR LITERARY EFFORTS THANKS TO ANNUAL YELL CAMPAIGN

1991

Street sales: $13,000

Sponsorships: $21,000

Total: $34,000

1992

Street sales: $16,000

Sponsorships: $22,000

Total: $38,000

1993

Street sales: $19,200

Sponsorships: $20,000

Total: $39,200

1994

Street sales: $17,700

Sponsorships: $19,300

Total: $37,000

1995

Street sales: $18,000

Sponsorships: $17,000

Total: $35,000

1996

Street sales: $18,000

Sponsorships: $20,000

Total: $38,000

1997

Street sales: $18,300

Sponsorships: $16,700

Total: $35,000

1998

Street sales: $18,500

Sponsorships: $25,500

Total: $44,000

WHO IS ALL THE YELL-ING FOR?

Money raised in September 1998 during the annual YELL campaign was awarded to 23 area literacy projects.

Last year's YELL grant recipients:

*Alma Schrader Elementary School

*Cape Girardeau Adult Basic Education

*Cape Girardeau Public Library

*Franklin Elemenatry School

*Jefferson Elementary

*May Greene Elementary School

*Rolling Readers of Cape Girardeau

*St. Mary Cathedral

*St. Vincent de Paul

*L.J. Schultz

*Cape Girardeau Central High School

*Clippard Elementary School

*Riverside Regional Library

*St. Joseph School

*Chaffee R-2 School Libraries

*Immaculate Conception School

*Jackson Regional Library in Jackson

*Jackson South Elementary School

*Jackson North Elementary School

*St. Paul Lutheran School

*Southeast Missourian Newspaper in Education

(Graphic by Teresa Connell)