YELL: VOLUNTEERS POISED FOR STREET SALES

Volunteers for the annual YELL for Newspapers campaign are poised and ready to hawk newspapers Tuesday morning.

Businesses and civic groups have staked out corners for the annual YELL for Newspaper campaign in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people will be raising money for Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning YELL.

The event is coordinated by the Area Wide United Way, the Southeast Missourian and Cash-Book Journal.

Dennis Marchi, manager of Schnucks, said his team of newspaper sellers is ready. They will hawk newspapers at the corner of Independence and Kingshighway.

"It's a good project to raise money for Newspaper in Education and literacy projects," Marchi said. "It's not hard to sell with that type of program.

"Plus we have fun doing it. We get to get out there and hawk the newspaper."

An assortment of Schnucks employees managers, full-time and part-time associates all participate.

"We wave the newspapers at the cars and talk to the people as they go by," Marchi said. "It's the old newsboy type of scenario. We really have a lot of fun."

Members of the Lions Club will be selling newspapers at the corner of Broadway and Kingshighway.

"We have an army of gentlemen who are at Kingshighway and Broadway," said Calvin Chapman, a Lions Club member who also works with the United Way. "We get out there and get with it."

About two dozen members of the club will be selling newspapers from the street corner.

While the Lions Club's primary emphasis is on sight, Chapman said the group chips in on lots of other community projects. The club is also a strong supporter of the United Way.

"The least we can do is put forth one day out of the year to collect money," he said, adding that members enjoy the event.

"We see so many people we know. It's amazing how many people you know who are going to work that early in the morning. We holler, `Give us some money! Buy a paper!' We holler for dollars."

Money raised through this campaign is divided equally between the Southeast Missourian's NIE program, which serves five counties, and special literacy grants administered by the United Way.

The event takes place in all three communities on the same day this year. The Cash-Book Journal is moving its publication date to Tuesday to support the YELL effort, said Kim McDowell, NIE coordinator for the Southeast Missourian.

Volunteers will begin selling newspapers at 6:30 a.m. and will continue until the newspapers are sold out, about 8:30 or 9 a.m.

McDowell said 10,000 special editions of the Southeast Missourian will be printed; the Cash-Book Journal will print 1,800.

"The special edition of the Southeast Missourian will include articles on United Way agencies, literacy efforts in the area and on Newspapers in Education."

A comic book will be placed in each edition, thanks to VIP Industries.

A variety of instant prizes will be inserted randomly in YELL editions. Bonus prize claim numbers also will be included in the newspaper. The recommended donation for each newspaper is $2.