St. John's Hospital - Lebanon gears up for Crayon Crusade
July 25, 2005

 
In a partnership with area businesses, organizations and churches, St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon will repeat their successful “Crayon Crusade” school program designed to help Laclede County area students and schools receive a busload of school supplies. Businesses and organizations interested in partnering with the hospital as collection sites are encouraged to contact the hospital and join the drive.

From July 25 through August 12, the Lebanon hospital, and these participating partners, will collect school supplies in collection boxes at their sites. On August 12, collection boxes and individual donations will be dropped off at a bus parked at the Kenneth E. Cowen Civic Center in Lebanon. St. John’s employees hope to collect enough supplies to fill the bus at least twice. Supplies then will be donated to area schools districts including Lebanon, Conway, Joel E. Barber and Gasconade. Last year, in the hospital’s first year with the project, more than 22,000 school supply items were donated. In addition to the school supplies, nearly $2000 in cash donations created a classroom teacher scholarship program to help fill ongoing needs.

“Response to last year’s crusade was amazing,” says St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon President Tim Johnsen. “What started out as a hospital employee competition quickly spread throughout the community with a number of extremely giving partners and hundreds of generous donors who contributed.” Johnsen says the hospital employees will have two teams that will compete to see which one can bring in the most supplies.

 “The competition is fun and, of course, the schools will benefit from it,” says Johnsen. “It’s hard for some families to handle the extra cost of school supplies and certainly our teachers and the school systems do what they can to help the students. As a community hospital, these are our families, and we want to help.”

Johnsen says the Crayon Crusade has three goals this year. “Hospital employees have met and agreed to adopt three phases for the crusade this year; to continue with the actual collection of school supplies plus provide financial support to the Missouri Ozarks Community Action Back to School Fair and the Lebanon Lions Club Teachers’ Assistance Program,” says Johnsen.

“From the very beginning, the hospital’s drive has been designed to assist other existing local efforts to help schools such as the MOCA fair and the TAP. Part of the reason we decided to launch the Crayon Crusade was to help MOCA. They’ve taken on an overwhelming project for students and schools for years now and we just wanted to help them more.”

Johnsen says the hospital will donate $1000 to the MOCA fair in addition to supplies they may need to augment their distribution. The St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon Crayon Crusade will then furnish supplies collected directly to the school systems for distribution for families who did not benefit from the fair.
A supporter of the TAP program last year, St. John’s again will donate $1000 to this program that provides financial assistance to Lebanon elementary teachers to spend as they need. “Again, the hospital recognizes that these teachers do a lot personally to help their students and we want to partner with the Lions Club as their fill this need for teachers.”

Lebanon School Superintendent Duane Widhelm says last year the school supplies from the Crayon Crusade were a great boost for students who normally struggle to have supplies as well as to the teachers who many times spend their personal money to buy supplies for their students. “We can’t thank St. John’s Lebanon and the communities and businesses enough for helping with this project,” Dr. Wildhelm says. “This project is just another example of how the community cares for each other. These supplies were a real blessing for both the students and the teachers.” In addition to the Lebanon School District, supplies will be given to Conway, Joel E. Barber and Gasconade school districts.

How to help…
St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon Crayon Crusade –
More than 25 businesses and organizations joined with St. John’s as collection sites for the program last year and the hospital again is looking for partners for this year’s collection. A complete “collection kit” is provided to each partner and they receive publicity for their involvement. Deadline to sign up is July 21. Call Teresa Esparza, St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon Executive Assistant at 417-533-6012 to register.
Then, from July 25 through August 12, groups, organizations, families, churches and individuals may deposit school supplies at any of the collection boxes at these participating locations. Tax-deductible cash donations may be mailed to the St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon Crayon Crusade, 100 Hospital Drive, Lebanon, MO 65536
MOCA Back to School Fair – As is the past, Missouri Ozarks Community Action will hold its Back to School Fair on Friday, August 5 at the Kenneth E. Cowen Civic Center. The event features services, free school supplies, exhibits and information for parents and children. To donate or pre-register for the event, contact Jo Mastin at MOCA, 417-588-2620 or Crosslines Ministries at 417-588-3559.
TAP- The Lebanon Lions Club started a program last year to provide financial assistance for teachers. In its first year it provided $50 to each Lebanon kindergarten and first-grade teachers to spend as they chose. This year, the club hopes to raise enough funds to extend the program. Contributions may be sent to TAP, Inc., PO Box 832, Lebanon, MO 65536. For more information, contact Clem Korn at 417-532-9106.

What’s needed and why
School supplies needed included:
backpacks; #2 pencils, erasers, wide-ruled notebook paper, 2-3 subject notebooks, spiral bound with wide-ruled paper, hand sanitizer, glue, rulers, crayons, Kleenex, individual folders, scissors, school boxes, markers and red, blue, black and green ink pens
Also needed for middle and high school students: 3-ring binders, trapper keepers, backpacks and page dividers.
“Items as small as pencils, crayons and glue may seem minimal, but to a family living on a limited income, or a single parent home where money is tight, school supplies aren’t always necessities,” says St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon President Tim Johnsen. “That’s why we want to help. It’s just that simple. There’s a need and we can help. We encourage others to join.”
According to the most recent Missouri Kids Count Report, which profiles educational, demographic, health and the economic conditions concerning children and families, and information from Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 48.9% of Laclede County school students qualify for free or reduced lunches. The Missouri state average is 39.2%. This means that children from households with incomes less than 130% of the poverty level qualified for free lunches; those from households with less than 185% of the poverty level, were eligible for lunches at reduced prices. According to the Bureau of Census, the 2000 poverty level was $17,463 for a family of four.Also, in Laclede County, 51.1 percent of children under the age of 18 were enrolled in the MC+ or Medicaid health care insurance programs. The Missouri state average for enrolment is 37.2 percent.
 

For media information, contact St. John’s Media Relations at 417-820-2426 or cscott@sprg.mercy.net.