I'm Famous

OK, I'm really not famous, but I was in our newspaper, The Joplin Globe.  I'm not going to lie, I DO NOT read the newpaper...too depressing.  I'd rather read, um, anything else!  But, we are working on a backpack program at our school where we are going to send backpacks full of food home with our needy kiddos and I got the pleasure of researching it initially last Spring, so I have become one of the go-to people for the program.  It is a MAJOR group effort and is so fun to be a part of something that is going to positively impact hungry kids in our community.  We are hoping to be able to launch it this March!!  Anyway, without further ado...

The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO


November 22, 2010
Group gets grant for food program
By Emily Younker
news@joplinglobe.com

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — A program to help feed hungry schoolchildren is $1,500 richer thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri.

“We see it as a need in that we’ve got kiddos who have lower socioeconomic living conditions,” said Jennifer Chase, a counselor at Carl Junction High School. “If their basic needs aren’t being met, they’re not going to be (performing) at their highest ability.”

The foundation presented the grant on Monday at the school district campus to the Carl Junction Youth Empowerment Project, a recently created high school group that plans next spring to launch a program that will send food home on the weekends with children who need it.

Michelle Ducre, executive director of the foundation, said the board chose to fund the food program because of its importance to the youth group.

“They felt strongly that it’s not right that their little children went home and had nothing to eat,” she said.

In addition to the grant, the youth organization is accepting food and monetary donations, and a recent pancake feed raised about $1,400 for the program. Chase said the program is expected to launch in March.

The Youth Empowerment Project also is planning a high school talent show in April to serve as a fundraiser. The money it raises will be given out as grants to other local organizations, said sponsor Theresa Wilson, a teacher at Carl Junction High School. She said the application procedure for those grants should begin after Thanksgiving, with applications due tentatively in February.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of Tuesday’s Joplin Globe or register for our E-Edition at joplinglobe.com.