MANKATO — Thumbs up: To the local chapter of Kids Against Hunger and others here who are helping in the effort to aid Haiti.

Kids Against Hunger Director Tim Stromer sprang into action when news of the devastating earthquake hit the island nation. The local chapter has made food deliveries to Haiti in the past, so Stromer was familiar with the struggles the Haitians already had before the quake struck.

Stromer’s pleas for volunteers, warehouse space and monetary donations have been heard, and the people in this area are trying to do their part. Madison East Center has given Stromer space at the mall to pack and store meals.

To help, Kids Against Hunger can be reached at 387-1390, and online donations can be made at kidsagainsthungermankato.org. Donations also are being taken at the Madison East site.

Quist comments unhelpful

Thumbs down: To the tone of the campaign by challengers to U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato.

In a recent speech that can be seen on YouTube, Republican Allen Quist said this:

“Terrorism, yes (but) that’s not the big battle. The big battle is in D.C. ... Obama, Pelosi, Walz — they’re not liberals, they’re radicals. They’re destroying our country.”

He also called the health care reform bill the “most evil” legislation he’d seen in his lifetime.

Another Republican candidate in the race, Jim Hagedorn, has a history of blog comments that include an anti-gay rant filled with sexual double entendres and one in which he said he hoped the building was “fumigated” after those attending the Paul Wellstone memorial service had left.

Campaigns are all about debates and occasional rants. But too many candidates have focused on anger-filled demagoguery, name calling and personal attacks.

Voters in the 1st District instead deserve to hear about clear policy and philosophical differences of candidates.

Kicking Haiti when it’s down

Thumbs down: To religious broadcaster and one-time presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who said on his TV vehicle, “The 700 Club,” that Haiti continues to be “cursed” because of a “pact with the devil” undertaken many, many years ago with which the country got out from under the French. Robertson’s words are not difficult to connect — the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti this week is God’s judgment on a sinful nation, he believes.

Thankfully, very few people pay much attention to Robertson any more because he has made many other hateful and unsupportable comments about a variety of news events in the past. But his tendency to embarrass himself in this way causes Christians everywhere to wince. It’s well past the reverend’s moment for retirement.

READY! to make a difference

Thumbs up: To the Mankato READY! for Kindergarten program that provides parents with training as well as toys and materials to help get their preschool children ready to enter kindergarten.

Studies have shown that this kind of preparation is about the best kind of investment we can make for education. Children ready to start school in kindergarten do much better all the way through. Last year, the program served 296 children in Mankato, and it will be expanding sites and classes in 2010.

READY! will add 75 slots for its program at Kennedy Elementary this year in addition to its existing programs at Franklin and Jefferson elementaries.

The program is also expanding its partnership with Minnesota State University, offering programs for the university’s employees with children.

READY! is a nationwide program and the Mankato program is the first in Minnesota. The program is answering the community need for kindergartner readiness. A study showed about 50 percent of children entering Mankato kindergarten were not adequately prepared when they entered school.

Organizers, volunteers and funders of the program are making a difference.