Riedel Foundation awards $7,500 to CHART Teen Task Force for teen health fair

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The CHART Teen Task Force is the latest Hannibal non-profit organization to receive a grant from the Riedel Foundation. CHART will use the $7,500 Riedel grant to put on a teen health fair and to fund sexuality education in the Hannibal school district.

CHART has been the host of 27 teen health fairs. Last year’s fair, also sponsored by the Riedel Foundation, drew a crowd of 620 people. The fair provides information primarily on health topics that relate to teenagers, but it’s presented in a party-style atmosphere with a DJ, free food and giveaways.

“We started the CHART Teen Task Force in 1995, with the intention of decreasing unintended teen births and sexually transmitted diseases in teenagers,” CHART Chairperson Sandra Ahlum said in a press release. “No one seemed to be addressing the issue at that time. Since then, births to teens in northeast Missouri decreased 76 percent from our start in 1995 until the latest figures available in 2022.”

The Riedel Foundation has been a long-time supporter of CHART. “

We award a lot of grants every year,” Riedel Foundation lead trustee Michael Bukstein said. “Rarely do we see firm evidence of the difference our grants make in the community. We are impressed by the reduction in teen births as a result CHART’s work, and that’s why we continue to support the program.”

CHART provides sexuality education at Hannibal High School and Hannibal Middle School. It provides infant and pregnancy simulators at the Hannibal Career and Technical Center and at the middle school. It also offers puberty education at Hannibal grade schools.

The 2025 Health Fair will take place Feb. 1 at the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center.