EXTENSION GETS STRONG SUPPORT FROM AREA

It's heartening to see a community that believes so much in the good of a program -- and so much in itself -- that it raises $500,000 in cash and in-kind donations for that program.

The new 8,000-square-foot University of Missouri Outreach and Extension office opened last week at 684 W. Jackson Trail off Highway 25 south of Jackson after a 20-month fund-raising effort supported wholeheartedly by the community.

Cape Girardeau County Extension officials first announced the campaign in August 1998, but it wasn't until last February that the project kicked off officially. An anonymous landowner donated 2.5 acres of land for the center.

The money trickled in a few hundred or thousand at a time. Four-H Club members sacked groceries, other groups performed various chores and sponsored banquet meals, giving their proceeds to the new building fund.

Extension officials could have looked to the state for money, expecting taxpayers to foot the bill. Instead, they looked to 250 individuals and groups who wanted the new building and knew they could benefit.

When the Extension Service, an outreach of the University of Missouri, first came into being, its purpose was to educate Missouri farmers on the most effective ways to raise livestock and produce crops.

Extension has come a long way since then. Today, county Extension offers more than 90 programs for both city and country dwellers. In addition to its essential agricultural programs, homemaking and 4-H, today's Extension targets community resource development, environmental technologies and business and industry and urban problems.

The old center operated in about 2,400 square feet and did its job well, but the new center will be ideally suited to fulfill its mission in a remarkable community.