The 1997 YELL literacy campaign got under way with a kickoff breakfast sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and United Way at Drury Lodge Tuesday.

Principals and representatives from Cape Girardeau public schools, Notre Dame High School and St. Vincent de Paul Grade School joined sponsors and volunteers for the official start of the Youth Education Literacy and Learning, or YELL campaign. The literacy project will provide teachers with free newspapers to aid in classroom instruction.

In addition, grants will be made available to schools and other educational programs throughout the year to buy supplies for special literacy projects.

"YELL allows us to help young people and our adults who may not have received those literacy gifts when they were growing up," said Kim McDowell of the Southeast Missourian.

This year's campaign will be held Sept. 9. Volunteers will begin selling newspapers on street corners at about 6 a.m. and will continue until they sell out.

Sandi Hendricks, adult basic education coordinator for the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School, is the 1997 campaign chairperson. She will recruit and coordinate volunteers for the event.

Since 1991, the Southeast Missourian and United Way have coordinated the publishing and distribution of the special newspaper to be sold by volunteers in the old newsboy hawking style. Funds generated by the YELL paper are used to promote literacy and citizenship in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

Educators said the newspapers provided by the campaign assist them at all school levels. Many area grade and middle schools refer to Tuesday newspapers so they can use the weekly Learning section to spur interest in American history and local educational events. Older grade levels use other sections of the paper to promote literacy and interest in current events, citizenship and even math.

"The biggest changes I've seen is that students are actually using the papers," said Franklin Elementary School principal Jim Watkins, who has worked with the YELL campaign since its beginning. "Putting the literacy program in the classroom is really making reading meaningful to the kids."