Teachers from area to get supplies

Thanks to the Southeast Missourian Jr., Horizon Screen Printing and several other local businesses elementary school teachers and students in the Cape Girar-deau region will get classroom supplies and 10,000 No. 2 pencils.

In an effort to help local teachers supply their classrooms with the necessities, the Southeast Missourian Jr. and 13 local businesses sponsored a Tools for Teachers supply drive from Aug. 9 - Sept. 5.

Cheryl Ellis, editor of the Southeast Missourian Jr., said she is pleased with the amount of supplies collected during the drive and since it was so successful she is going to make the drive an annual event.

Although cleaning supplies, markers and notebooks were among the hundreds of items collected for the teachers, by far, No. 2 pencils were the most abundant.

Wes Wade, sales manager for Horizon Screen Printing, said when he heard of the drive he wanted to come up with a way to help the teachers and the students. The idea he and his co-workers came up with was to get local businesses together to sponsor groups of pencils. Three businesses grouped together for each bundle of 2,500 pencils.

In all Wade found 12 sponsors, which meant that Horizon could produce 10,000 pencils. The pencils are in the process of being printed, he said, and when completed sometime next week each will have a picture of Tracker, the Southeast Missourian Jr.'s mascot, the words "Tracker's Tools for Teachers" and the three businesses' logos that sponsored that group of pencils.

Ellis said her task now is to distribute the supplies to the teachers. Any local elementary teacher who needs classroom supplies can e-mail requests to kidsnewspaper@semissourian.com or fax them to 339-0815.

The supplies will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, Ellis said.

If there are supplies left over after all of the requests have been filled Ellis said the remaining supplies will be distributed among the schools.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128