Your view: In the beginning ...

I read the "On the Move 2004" supplement business and services magazine that was part of the Feb. 29 Standard Democrat. It was a nice publication about Sikeston and the surrounding communities. I was particularly interested in the article about the Kenny Rogers Children's Center and the three decades of therapy. It was a good article, but after I read it, I decided to write and clarify some things about the article, from 1977 forward.

In 1974, the center actually began as a rented room on East Center Street and the Sikeston Eagles Chapter was responsible for getting the program started. They continued to support the center and still support it, as have the Ladies Auxiliary of the Eagles. I did want to clarify what actually happened in 1977, when country music star Kenny Rogers came to the 25th Annual Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. Kenny did not know about the Scott-Mississippi-New Madrid County United Cerebral Palsy Affiliate program at that time, and I think it is important for the public to realize how his help actually evolved, culminating in the actual center being named in his honor.

Weber Gilmore, in early 1977, had approached the Sikeston Jaycees about assisting with donations to help the struggling program. Weber was the chairman of the C.P. Board of Directors at that time. He wanted the Jaycees to consider helping with the expenses that the Sikeston Eagles were supporting. We (Sikeston Jaycees) hired Kenny Rogers to be the star of the rodeo that spring and we announced at a press conference at City Hall that he would star at the rodeo. At the same press conference, the Jaycees donated $8,000 toward the purchase of a new fire truck for the City of Sikeston. Kenny was part of the press conference via a telephone conference call from Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget Hotel. He told all of us he was "really interested in coming to Sikeston to find out what the Sikeston Jaycees were all about," as he remarked when he listened to our donation of funds for the fire truck.

Kenny came to town in early June, helped us with advance television commercials and attended a luncheon at the Ramada Inn, at which the Sikeston Jaycees and their wives and other dignitaries of the community attended. When he came back to the rodeo in August, he got a chance to tour the hospital, Regional Diagnostic Center and went around town to other places while he was here performing for all four days of the rodeo. On Saturday, he invited Jaycees Charlie Stamp Jr., Phil Boyer, Keith Duncan, Charlie Blumenberg and me to have lunch with him at the Ramada Inn. He told us that he wanted to donate his Arabian stallion "Borrabby" to the Sikeston Jaycees. I asked Kenny what he wanted us to do with the horse. He said, "I don't know what you guys will do with him, but I know from what I have seen of your organization that whatever you decide to do, it will be the right thing."

We decided to donate the horse to the C.P. Affiliate program, assuming that hopefully we could figure out a way to sell the horse and the proceeds would go toward the program for the C.P. kids. The C.P. Board of Directors, at their monthly meeting in September, decided they wanted to someday build a permanent center, and they wanted the Jaycees to know that the would like to name a facility after Kenny Rogers.

The Sikeston Jaycees then decided in late September 1977 to donate the total amount of their profits, less capital improvements from the 25th Annual Rodeo, to the concept of a new C.P. Center. The donation was the largest the Jaycees had ever given to one organization at that time, and it was $25,000. When Kenny Rogers was informed of the Jaycees' donation, he decided to come back to Sikeston and do benefit concerts to help the Sikeston Jaycees build the Kenny Rogers Cerebral Palsy Center. The rest is history.

As your article pointed out in "On the Move 2004," the concerts began in February 1978 with another in January 1979, with Kenny and country star Dottie West donating their time and talent, along with both of their bands at no charge. Then came Mel Tillis as well as Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers in April 1979 and April 1980 to do concerts at the Sikeston High School Field House. The Sikeston Jaycees produced and promoted all four concerts and The Arabian Horse Journal magazine promoted the sale of Borrabby and another Arabian horse the next year, the proceeds coming for both horses at the International Arabian Expo Auction in Reno, Nev. Also, Al Jardine of The Beach Boys, who was an Arabian horse owner, heard about our project and came to town for a reception with the Jaycees during that time and The Beach Boys donated $18,000 to the center, which by now had opened in June 1979 to serve children afflicted with cerebral palsy from the three-county area. Kenny came back in April 2001 and did another benefit for the center.

Many people, businesses and organizations from all over Southeast Missouri helped by contributing to the four concerts the Sikeston Jaycees had promoted and produced, and we could not have accomplished what we did without all the financial support they provided to our project. The Sikeston Jaycees could not have accomplished what occurred without Kenny Rogers, but he would be the first person to tell you that though his name is on the building, he did it because he became 'caught up in the emotion of the Sikeston Jaycees," by seeing firsthand their enthusiasm and desire to help Sikeston with the Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. Kenny Bridger and Bridger Construction built the center and many building trades union members donated their time and talents.

Over the years since those concerts and the beginning of the center, the Sikeston Jaycees have donated more than $150,000 to the center, not counting the original $25,000 or the work on the concerts. In the past two years, the Sikeston Jaycees have donated almost $55,000 to the center, and I don't mean as part of the annual telethon. The young men who are the active members of the organization today are just as committed today as those of us were in 1977 to helping the center. A lot of the Jaycees today weren't even born when the center first became a reality.

As the 24th annual telethon for the Kenny Rogers Children's Center approaches the weekend of March 13-14, if you see a Sikeston Eagle member or a Sikeston Jaycee, tell them you appreciate what they did and continue to do to support one of the finest facilities of its kind in the entire Midwest United States. Also, don't forget to call in and make a pledge on the annual telethon because the kids need all of us. It is especially hard during these economic times to raise money. I hope everyone who reads this will dig deep in their pockets this year and help the 300 children we now serve continue to improve and have a better life.

I am thankful I had the opportunity to be part of the beginning of our center. There are no words to adequately describe my own feelings regarding how I personally feel about the center. By the grace of God, we all go. If you can walk, talk and have your health and the same applies to your family members, then don't forget the center on telethon weekend.

Tom Nunnelee, honorary Jaycee

Kenny Rogers Children's Center

Board of Directors