NARS celebrates

When Cape Girardeau native Chris Buehrle first considered his hometown as a location for one of his call-center operations, he wasn't sure the community could meet the demand for hundreds of employees. Cooperatively, the Cape Gir­ardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET, Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, Mineral Area College, Southeast Missouri State University and state economic development agencies put together the resources to provide National Asset Recovery Services with what it needed, including a job fair where 900 prospective employees showed up. Buehrle was convinced.

In the year since then, NARS has hired 400 full- and part-time employees and expects to have more than 500 by the end of the year. As promised, NARS offers workers on-site amenities in a renovated portion of the old Sears building on William Street such as an exercise room. A day-care center is expected to open soon.

The community's effort to work with NARS was recognized last week as the Governor's Community Project of the Year at the annual Governor's Economic Development Conference in Springfield, Mo. Today, NARS is throwing a bash of its own to thank the community, concluding with fireworks tonight on the Mississippi River that will no doubt enliven the opening of the River City Music Festival in the downtown area.

The community made a major commitment to NARS, and NARS made a major commitment to the community and its employees. Those commitments have been kept, and the area is benefiting economically as a result.