YELL SPONSORS PROVIDE SUPPORT

Southeast Missouri is ready to YELL with the help of a new Youth Education Literacy and Learning Foundation Board. The local YELL effort raises funds and administers literacy grants, including funding for the Newspaper in Education program.

Literacy grants are awarded in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City. The NIE program reaches out even further -- to 33 area schools.

The major fund raiser over the past nine years has been street sales of a special YELL edition each September. Plans are gearing up for this year's edition, which will include predictions of third graders for the millennium, historic front pages of the Southeast Missourian, special Y2K activities and photographs from area residents.

YELL also requires the dedication and dollars of sponsors. Those sponsors and grant recipients were honored at a special luncheon this past week. YELL sponsors who deserve a hearty pat on the back include: Wal-Mart stores, Southeast Missouri Hospital, Famous-Barr, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, First National Bank & Trust, St. Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau School District, Crown Cadillac-Olds-Nissan, Schnucks, Schapers IGA, Save-A-Lot, Sylvan Learning Center and ARI.

It's not too late to jump aboard as a YELL sponsor this year.

The new YELL foundation is busy planning other exciting fund-raising events as well -- such as a time capsule ceremony at the SEMO District Fair, a corporate spelling been this winter and a special Saturday Southeast Missourian front-page banner featuring people who support YELL.

This year's YELL day is scheduled Sept. 14. The growing success of YELL has made a real difference in the fight against illiteracy in our own backyard.