YOUTH DAYS OF CARING THIS WEEK

During the second annual Youth Days of Caring April 3-15, participating public and private schools in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City will be collecting items to fill emergency preparedness buckets designed by Project Impact.

Every year the Area Wide United Way conducts two Days of Caring events; the one in the spring focuses on youth, the other in the fall focuses on the entire community. The purpose of the Youth Days of Caring is to encourage youth to give back to their community through volunteering.

With the bucket project, students in participating schools will be encouraged to bring in for the buckets items that would help get people through a disaster, such as plastic eating utensils, toilet paper, etc. As an alternative children may also bring in coins to pay for items needed to complete the buckets but that will not be collected within the schools, such as utility knives, matches, etc.

Youth organizations in the community will assemble the buckets that will be distributed back to the classrooms. In addition, some organizations have decided to sponsor individual buckets.

The bucket project was started in 1999 to help individuals be better prepared in the event of a disaster. Initially the project centered on the need for seniors to be prepared but has grown due to the impact emergency preparedness has on our community. It was thought that a collection drive would be a good educational opportunity for youth.