The 34th class of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Cape program presented their capstone projects working with local community organizations to a packed crowd at the chamber’s First Friday Coffee on Friday, Sept. 6.

Whitney Quick, the chamber’s vice president of programs and leadership development, introduced the groups and their projects. Each team was tasked with developing a community betterment event, program or other materials to aid a different not-for-profit. These organizations were the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Missouri, United Way of Southeast Missouri, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, South Side Farms and Safe House of Southeast Missouri.

For the Boys and Girls Club, the team developed a social community campaign across seven social media sites to attract and enroll pre-teens and teenagers in the program, since they noticed those demographics did not have the same participation rates as younger students.

“We wanted everybody to know what a great place this could be and what a great place it is,” group member Heidi Koehler said.

They designed and hosted numerous events and recommended tailored programming, mentoring and academic support programs to reach even more children.

The United Way team tackled poverty awareness by designing a portable escape room project for use at school, church or corporate events, highlighting groups the local United Way chapter works with.

“The experience that we’re going to do is carefully crafted to reflect real-life scenarios that people in our community who are experiencing poverty face every day. By using these realistic scenarios, we hope to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges that contribute to poverty and to highlight the resources supported by the United Way that can help navigate these obstacles,” team member Rachel Heise said.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters team created the Big Little Book, a coupon book of sorts that allows participants in the community program to experience activities for a discount with their “little siblings.” Big Brothers Big Sisters pairs children in challenging situations with caring mentors.

“Their mission is to create a lasting relationship that can provide guidance and support by connecting these young people with positive role models. Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to help them build confidence, make better life choices and achieve their goals,” Leadership Cape participant Ashlee Morgan said.

The group working with South Side Farms developed a Power Bowls Dinner, to be held Nov. 8, 2025, to serve as both a meal using the farm’s produce and a fundraiser for it.

“This is already a very vibrant organization that is literally moving and going and growing, so we are here to try to empower sustainable funding for that,” Leadership Cape member Matt Palisch said. “… The idea is to get local involvement with the community; local businesses, schools and volunteers to assist with the event.”

Palisch said the funding from the community dinner would go toward a gravel road and proper entrance for the community farm.

For the Safe House of Southeast Missouri, the Leadership Cape team created a campaign focused on engaging men in advocating against domestic violence and abuse. This involved organizing a “Men of Courage Breakfast”, creating billboards and commercials, and working with college fraternities and sororities.

“Our hope is that our project will be one to raise awareness, provide avenues of support for victims, and also push ways to contact the Safe House for support and encourage both victims and those who witness abuse to be an advocate, not only for themselves but for others,” team member Jennifer Taylor said.

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