Telethon helps serve local kids

To the editor:

This weekend in Sikeston, Mo., the Kenny Rogers Children's Center will hold its 25th annual telethon and hopes to raise $250,000 to assist more than 300 children in Southeast Missouri who suffer developmental disabilities. Fifty of those children are Cape Girardeau County residents, yet Cape Girardeau countians may be unaware of this and thus do not support the center to the same extent as their neighbors.

The Kenny Rogers Children's Center provides occupational, physical and speech therapy to any child needing it at no cost to families. The difference between insurance reimbursements, Medicaid and school payments is borne by private contributions. The gap is about $1,000 per child. During the 2004 telethon, Cape Girardeau County citizens pledged under $5,000 of the $50,000 needed. Special events hosted by Minor's Harley Davidson and the Harley Owners Group raised about $33,000, but a large gap still remains. To complicate things further, the center has a waiting list of more than 40 children.

We are all approached by children's facilities in St. Louis, Memphis and other sites seeking assistance. All are deserving. Yet I would hope that caring people in our local area would show equal care for local children -- the 50 kids from Cape Girardeau County being served by Kenny Rogers Children's Center.

To learn more, watch the telethon on cable television this weekend or call 472-0397 in Sikeston to make a pledge right away. Charity must begin at home.

JIM SCHWANINGER, Chairman,

Kenny Rogers Children's Center, Sikeston