SIKESTON - With the help of a local business, the Kenny Rogers Children's Center received a $5,000 donation.
For the third year, Bo's Jewelry and Pawn of Sikeston presented a $5,000 check from Jewelers for Children to the Kenny Rogers Children's Center as part of a local grant program.
JFC, a non-profit organization founded by the jewelry industry in 1999 is dedicated to helping children in need. This is the fourth year the charity has ran the program.
The goal is to fund ten $5,000 grants for local children's charities around the country. Jewelers were asked to nominate their favorite local organization. Public voting on the Jewelers for Children Facebook page (www.facebook.com/JewelersforChildren) determined the charities to receive the grants. It was up to the local jeweler and the charity of their choice to promote and motivate their local community members to vote via their Facebook pages.
"We are so excited to be able to help the Kenny Rogers Children's Center," said Terri Hurley, owner of Bo's Jewelry & Pawn. "It was such an easy way to help support the excellent work the Kenny Rogers Children's Center does locally to help children in our community. Now, through our work with Jewelers for Children, we are able to help them receive one of these generous grants."
Voting began Nov. 7 and ran for two weeks. More than 13,000 people were motivated to visit the Jewelers for Children Facebook page and vote for their favorite, local charity. Bo's Jewelry and Pawn worked in conjunction with the Kenny Rogers Children's Center to encourage people to vote. Their success was evident with KRCC finishing near the top of the many charities.
Hurley noted most of the other charities were located in large communities where they could pull from a larger pool of online voters.
"I think that says so much for our community as a whole. We pitch in and try to take care of each other. Pulling together, we are helping to provide some much needed funding for the Kenny Rogers Children's Center," Hurley said. "Just one minute of time resulted in $ 5,000. What could have been easier?"