10-YEAR-OLD LOSES TOYS IN FIRE

One Cape Girardeau family will be starting over this Christmas, and Toy Box donors will have a chance to help.

A woman requested gifts for her 10-year-old daughter, including a bean bag, Barbie dolls, Teddy bears and "just about anything."This could be a very lean Christmas for the family, the woman indicated."Our house burned this past summer, and she lost all her toys and everything else," she wrote.

Toy Box, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian, can help this family and hundreds of others in Cape Girardeau this Christmas with donations of toys.

Organizers report that 448 families signed up to receive assistance this year through Toy Box. The toy drive benefits 1,000 to 1,200 underprivileged children in Cape Girardeau annually.

Donations are needed. Jaycees volunteers are hard at work sorting donations and shopping for toys to fill children's Christmas requests.

New, unwrapped toys may be dropped off at Boatmen's Bank, Capital Bank, Coldwell Banker, Gulliver's Travels, Commerce Bank, Mercantile Bank, First National Bank, Chuck E. Cheese's, West Park Mall or the Southeast Missourian.

Donations may be mailed to the Toy Box Trust, P.O. Box 4, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0004.

Chuck E. Cheese's is offering a discount on large pizzas for anyone who brings in a toy with a value of $1.99 or more, said Amy Gorham, promotions manager for the restaurant.

Jaycees Santas and elves will suit up to deliver toys to childrens homes between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Dec. 22.