EFFORT INITIATED TO SAVE CENTER

Supporters of the Easter Seals Child Development Center in Cape Girardeau are donning yellow ribbons in hopes of changing the minds of state Easter Seals officials who want to close the center March 10.

Failing that, some parents are exploring the possibility of opening a child development center without Easter Seals affiliation.

About 500 yellow ribbons were handed out at the center on Monday, said Sandy Lyke, a pre-kindergarten teacher who started the campaign as a way to show state Easter Seals officials that Cape Girardeau area residents support the center that serves children ages 6 weeks to 8 years old with and without disabilities.

"Whenever there is a crisis in this country, yellow ribbons pop up," Lyke said. "We are hoping the people in Cape Girardeau will wear the ribbons to show that the longtime support they have showed Easter Seals hasn't stopped."

Easter Seals Missouri announced Friday it was closing the center. Jerry Ehnes, Easter Seals Missouri vice president, said declining enrollment had created an increasing deficit that the state Easter Seals organization headquartered in St. Louis could no longer absorb.

Pat Jones, president of Easter Seals Missouri, said the decision to close the center will not be reversed. "Our board made the decision, and it was well thought out," she said.

With little hope of changing the state board's mind, parent Don Seger, acting on behalf of a group of parents and other interested parties, spent a good part of his day Monday investigating the possibility of opening a child-care center with the same emphasis on development and education, same inclusion of children with and without special needs and hopefully many of the same teachers as the center. The difference would be it would not have the Easter Seals name or financial backing.

Seger said he has contacted an attorney about the paperwork needed for non-profit status, a real estate agent for finding a building suitable for a child-care center and local businesses about investing in the venture.

"Money is the main thing we need now," Seger said, especially since the Easter Seals Center is set to close in two weeks.

The goal is to have the new center open and operating by March 13, the Monday after the Easter Seals center closes.

"Once we get it open, there are many state and federal grants we can apply for to help financially," Seger said.

In addition to the yellow ribbon campaign and the efforts to open a new center, several parents said they were calling state and national legislators from the area trying to gain support to keep the center open. But the center is operating at too much of a deficit to remain open, Jones said.

The center opened in January 1998 intending to serve children with and without disabilities. From its opening through August 1999, the center ran a deficit of $250,000, Jones said. From September 1999 through mid-February 2000, the center had lost another $73,000, she said.

"It was a disturbing trend that what the center was losing each month was increasing," Jones said. "Our board saw losses each month accelerating, and if the trend continued we would lose $180,000 this year. We didn't have other places we could pull that money from."

Barb Moyers, whose son is a special-needs student at the center, said the financial situation is frustrating since parents had expressed interest in doing fund raisers for the center but got no support to do so.

Jones said she had no information on the fund raisers parents proposed. However, she noted that in general if a fund raiser involves one or more Easter Seals staff members, the money raised often doesn't warrant the manpower and time away from other tasks.

Parents of children who attend the Easter Seals center are also frustrated that the state office didn't do more to let them know the center was in danger of being closed.

"Instead of coming in and telling us we had two weeks to find new day-care arrangements, why didn't they dome down two months ago and talk to us about trying to keep the center open?" asked Seger, whose son is in the 4-year-old class at the center.

Seger, Moyers and other parents took ribbons on Monday to pass them out to friends and co-workers.

Lyke said as word of the yellow-ribbon campaign spread, a steady stream of people stopped by the center to get ribbons. She had handed out the 500 she made over the weekend by mid-afternoon. She was planning to make more Monday night.

"We don't want to go down without a fight," Moyers said.

Anyone interested in wearing a ribbon may pick one up at the center at 1912 Broadway. Anyone interested in helping with efforts to start a new center may call Seger at 339-0714.