Since the mid 1990’s a youth program in Hannibal has been helping give some real-world lessons to at risk youth in Hannibal.  Kids in Motion targets 12 to 15 year olds with the intent of helping them to value work, personal responsibility and self-reliance.  The KIM website says participants are involved with supervised community service projects including assisting at nursing homes, planting trees and flowers and helping to maintain the tourism district.  The hop is that early intervention will redirect values and influence positive behavior and lifestyle choices.  The registration deadline is Friday.
A good work ethic is one of the best tools you a young adult can have. For me, lessons about work came from lawn mowing jobs, shoveling snow, rehab work on rental properties, bucking bales and temporary work cleaning in a grocery store. Others that I ran around with had paper routes or worked as caddies at nearby golf courses. Other friends got some work ethic lessons in high school football practices or in basketball practices run by Sherrill Hanks or Jerry Leggett. Some of those experiences weren’t a lot of fun—especially being up in the hayloft on a 95 degree evening and being allergic to just about everything within reach—but I did learn that there is nothing wrong with a little hard work especially when there is money on the  line.  Somewhere along the line I learned about the “good tired”. That’s when you’re wiped out but you know you’re wiped out because you’ve done something worthwhile. I’ve had a lot of fun looking for and finding that “good tired” over the last three plus decades.
Kids In Motion helps provide these experiences to some who might not otherwise get them.

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