YELL FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANTS TO ASSIST LITERACY PROGRAM

YELL grants recipients, from left, the Rev. Sam Roethemeyer, YELL board member; Marge King, Immaculate Conception; Connie Bergerson, North Elementary; Charlotte Knaup, North Elementary; Howard Lewis, Orchard Drive elementary; and Diane E. Gregg, West Lane Elementary.

YELL grant recipients were, from left, Julia Jorgensen, YELL board member; Gerald Landewee, Oak ridge Elementary; Nancy Branson, Adult Basic Education; Mary Ann Lewis, Blanchard; Cindy Halter, Jefferson Elementary; and Rhonda Dunham, Jefferson elementary.

1999 YELL grant recipients were, from left, Nancy Jernigan, from the United Way; Bonnie Matzat, L.J. Schultz Middle Schoole; Laura Hinkebein, Girl Scouts of Otahkian Council; Julie Wilson, Jefferson School; Lynn Farrow, riverside Regional Libraries of Scott City and Jackson; and Kim Weller, Rolling Readers.

YELL recipients were, from left, Pat Zelmer, Southeast Missurian, Joyce Syer, Mary Ha, Mary Sue Layton and Brother David, all from Notre Dame; and Julia Jorgensen, Cape Central High School.

At Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, an early literacy program last year focused on helping children who were having difficulty reading.

Across town, Central High School sported a book club.

These were just two of the programs helped with funding from the YELL Foundation.

YELL stands for Youth, Education, Literacy, Learning.

The foundation awarded literacy grants totaling $35,299, but most of that -- $27,000 -- went to the Southeast Missourian for its Newspapers in Education program. The NIE program is designed to enhance the reading and comprehension skills of students in the area. Through the NIE program, newspapers are distributed to classrooms where they become a part of the curriculum.

The value of Southeast Missourian newspapers used in last year's NIE program was nearly $80,000.

In addition to the grant for the NIE program, other YELL grants went to area schools, libraries and organizations for other literacy programs. These grants totaled $8,299 in 1999. The money largely went to buy books.

"Generally, we are just going to fund a piece of a program," said Nancy Jernigan, who serves as treasurer of the YELL Foundation and as a member of the foundation's allocations committee. The goal, she said, is to spread the money among a variety of literacy programs.

"We try to help as many as we can with the dollars we have," said Jernigan. "A few hundred dollars can make a difference."

The grants are awarded to schools, libraries and organizations in the Cape Girardeau County and Scott City areas.

Cathy Evans, another YELL board member, has high praise for the literacy foundation. "This YELL program is just a wonderful asset to the school system," said Evans, assistant superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District. "Like anything else in education, there is always a great need for additional funding."

Last year's grants helped fund a wide range of programs:

- Blanchard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau received $200 to implement early literacy groups in first grade classrooms.

- Cape Girardeau Public Library received $1,500 for the purchase of gift books for youths who participated in the Teen Summer Reading Club and/or attended any of the other book-giveaway programs during the year.

- Central Junior High School received $394 to buy books for students to read.

- Central High School received $600 for the Central High School Book Club. Membership was open to students, staff and the community.

- Clippard Elementary School received $200 to assist a literacy program for second-grade students.

- Franklin Elementary School received $150 to assist children reading at least one year below grade level.

- Girl Scouts Otahki Council received $250 for a program designed to help children acquire values and ideas from the messages and images they see and hear through the media.

- Jefferson Elementary School received $400 to help students learn basic research techniques on topics related to their classroom curriculum.

- L.J. Schultz Middle School received $500 for a reading program for seventh-grade students, particularly remedial reading students.

- Notre Dame High School received $400 for students to read books and then be tested by a computer program.

- Rolling Readers received $625 for a program designed to help read well by the end of the third grade. The program was offered through the Cape Girardeau Civic Center.

- St. Mary Cathedral School received $200 for an individualized, computerized reading program designed to motivate students to read more and increase reading comprehension.

- Adult Basic Education received $500 for its literacy program.

- Immaculate Conception School in Jackson received $200 for Scholastic Reading Counts program that helps students read at their own level and challenges them to go to the next level.

- North Elementary School received $400 for books to enhance the curriculum and to help at-risk students in first grade.

- Orchard Drive Elementary School in Jackson received $200 for a reading program that includes computer-generated quizzes.

- Riverside Regional Library in Jackson received $200 for a program designed to reach early readers, reluctant readers and their parents.

- St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson received $200 for a reading program that includes computer-generated quizzes based on what the students have read.

- West Lane Elementary School in Jackson received $300 to encourage students in grades four through eight to read.

- Oak Ridge Elementary School received $200 for a literacy program designed to build the reading skills of students in kindergarten through third grade.

- Riverside Regional Library at Scott City received $200 for a program designed to reach young and reluctant readers and their parents.