DAR, businesses partner to uplift area in trying time

Inspired. Impressed. Encouraged.

Pick any adjective, and you would successfully describe how I felt following the 7th annual Leadership Day activities at Eugene Field Elementary School in Poplar Bluff on March 13.

The theme for the two-hour program was “Be the Change!” Mission accomplished.

In the current partisan society we live in, it was refreshing to see our children are being taught the importance of leadership and everything that entails.

Principal Jennifer Taylor and her staff have established a wonderful atmosphere for their students to learn, not just about reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s obvious their students are presented with skills that will serve them and society well for many years.

I wonder how those young children will react when they face uncertainty as adults? They will some day encounter something similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will they go out and purchase countless rolls of toilet paper and hand sanitizer? Will they decide not to heed the warnings of local, state and national officials to restrict their travel to essential and not pleasure?

Time will tell.

With the current travel and business restrictions, and schools being closed, the Daily American Republic is trying to do its part to uplift the community. It’s our responsibility to keep everyone informed, and that’s often bad news. But, we’ve come up with a couple of ways to hopefully inspire and entertain.

The DAR now is posting a daily prayer to our Facebook page that is sponsored by Living Word Baptist Church in Poplar Bluff. The first one appeared last week.

The goal is to help everyone take a minute to reflect on what we all face with the coronavirus pandemic and realize the power of prayer.

Living Word Baptist Church has agreed to sponsor the prayer for a month.

Our second project is something for area students. We have partnered with four businesses so far — Barker’s Towing, Lisa Reynolds Insurance and Quality Air, all of Poplar Bluff, and Cypress Point Skilled Nursing in Dexter (for the Statesman) — to help the DAR produce a Children’s Storytime video.

The sponsorships will allow us to have a video today and Thursday, and the same days next week. We hope those same businesses or others will help make the videos possible in the future.

An area kindergarten teacher — or someone from the sponsor’s business — will read a story and possibly have a surprise or two for the students. We’re not sure how long they will last, but we’re thinking five or 10 minutes.

The videos will be placed on the newspaper’s website (and will be free to view) and also posted to our Facebook page.

Thank you to all of the sponsors for making these two projects possible.

Chris is publisher of the Daily American Republic. He can be reached by email at cpruett@darnews.com .