Program Spotlight: Sole Providers 

For the past eight years, sneakers to be distributed to students in need across campus have magically appeared in the mailroom of the Administrative Building, it would seem.

The 10 kind souls behind the deliveries, who wish to remain nameless, are part of the Sole Providers organization. Thanks to private donations, the nonprofit has gone from 80 pairs of locally purchased sneakers per school year to 250, recently including summer school for the first time.

"We realized teachers were spending their own money to buy these kids things-out of pocket! Teachers are just amazing little people," said the Sole Providers board secretary, affectionately known as the Shoe Lady. "We can't fix everything-we can't make a home happier, but we feel we're doing a small part providing the shoes so other people call fill other needs. It's a ministry to us."

Former coach and physical education teacher of the 5th & 6th Grade Center, Roger Stickland, who began an annual sneaker drive during his tenure, passed the baton to the Sole Providers upon retiring. The Sole Providers incorporated the 501c3, and took the concept a step further in Strickland's honor by supplying new sneakers instead of gently used pairs.

With the launch of Bright Futures Poplar Bluff last month, Sole Providers will become one of the many charitable programs already in existence now coordinated under the new umbrella organization. For more information, contact R-I social workers Carrie Booker or Donna Moore by calling 573-785-7751, or email cbooker@pb.k12.mo.us.

Below: A routine occurrence, custodian John Ethridge picks up mail in the Administrative Building for the 5th & 6th Grade Center, which includes multiple pairs of sneakers for students in need.

Poplar Bluff High School senior Darian Sales [above, right] won a Playstation Vita on Thursday, Oct. 30, for being named Ambassador of the Week out of 1,200 schools in the national Graduate for Mas program, sponsored by the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens.

Sales won the challenge by encouraging classmates to take the online pledge to graduate and by participating in online activities that are college and career based, according to PBHS counselor Tamara Day [above, left].

As of the end of last week, Poplar Bluff Schools was No. 2 in the United States-just below a school district out of Huntington Beach, Calif.-for having had over 30 percent of high school students sign the pledge.

Below: The following students won T-shirts or $10 gift certificates to Taco Bell for participating in online activities, including completing SAT and ACT prep questions: [names are listed in alphabetical order, not the order in which they appear in the photo] Carrie Alcorn, Katelyn Brinkley, Ashley Dell, Victoria Frazier, Laura Hummell, Katie Huskey, Jasemine Johnson, Michael Johnson, Lillianne Jones, Jared Moses, Skylar Piccioli, Amaya Richard, Gaelyn Richardson, Kimberly Scott, Maxwell Seals, Megan Stacy, Stewart Stock and James Williams.

Red Ribbon Week-a national alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign-was celebrated across campus last week.

At Oak Grove Elementary, Hawaii Day took place on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with a "lei off drugs" theme. Staff from Poplar Bluff Realty, the school sponsor, visited the facility dressed in Hawaiian attire and handed out leis to each of the students.

Poplar Bluff Realty has adopted Oak Grove for two years now. The real estate agency gives a monetary donation each year and participates in school activities, according to Principal Jenifer Richardson.

Thanks, PB Realty!

Above: First grader Tucker Edmundson leads the pack as Poplar Bluff Realty drapes Oak Grove students with leis for Hawaii Day.

Below: Pictured [from left] are realtors Steve Johnson, Gary Featherston, Kurt Knodell, Kim King and Terry Stewart, administrative assistant Mallory Robertson, realtor Bill Dee and office manager Jackie Robison.

The fire chief and mayor honored a 6-year-old boy of the Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center on Thursday, Oct. 23, for recently saving the lives of his family during a house fire.

Hunter Schmidt reportedly saw smoke coming from a wall one Friday evening last month and awoke the adult of the house, who got the rest of the children out of the structure.

Poplar Bluff Fire Chief Ralph Stucker and Hunter's family attributed his quick thinking to an emergency presentation the boy was previously given during fire prevention week at the Early Childhood Center, according to the Daily American Republic.

Above: Poplar Bluff Mayor Angela Pearson presents Hunter Schmidt a bravery award while [from left] Chief Ralph Stucker, Cpt. Kevin Edgar and firefighter Bob Caswell give the boy a fire hat and badge.