YELL DAY TUESDAY WILL RAISE LITERACY FUNDS

More than 200 volunteers will be retiring early this evening in preparation for getting an early start on Tuesday, which is YELL Day in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

By the time the sun rises Tuesday and morning traffic begins, the volunteers will be stationed at selected locations along streets in the three communities to begin the task of selling the annual YELL Edition of the Southeast Missourian.

We hope the big day will be as successful as past YELL days have been. The special YELL Edition, which sells for just $2 and contains a package of special features, will become a keepsake into the new millennium.

The day won't end for some YELL workers until Tuesday evening. At 6 p.m., a time capsule containing an assortment of items, including a copy of the 1999 YELL Edition, will be buried outside A.C. Brase Arena Building to await opening in 2049.

This year's YELL Edition and the time capsule, along with special front-page banners each Saturday in the Southeast Missourian featuring employees of various businesses and organizations are all part of the new YELL Foundation. YELL stands for Youth Education Literacy and Learning and has proved a valuable program. Through YELL, 26 grants will be awarded to literacy programs in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City. The grants are in keeping with YELL's primary purpose: to help stamp out illiteracy in the area.

YELL also supports the Newspapers in Education program of the Southeast Missourian. Through it, 3,428 copies are distributed weekly to area schools, and an additional 3,335 of the newspaper's MiniPages go to the younger children.

Since the Southeast Missourian began the YELL campaign in 1991, a total of $240,000 has been raised through the annual effort for literacy programs and Newspapers in Education. Now the YELL Foundation has take over this important literacy project.

In addition to our regular press run, 10,000 YELL Edition newspapers will be published Tuesday morning. We hope our group of dedicated volunteers will be able to sell every one of them. With your help, they can.