NEED FOR MORE TOYS STILL EXISTS

The process of personally delivering toys to 470 families in a two- hour span on one night requires careful planning and lots of organization.

Volunteers with the Cape Girardeau Jaycees have been working for weeks to make sure needy children receive a Christmas gift delivered personally by Santa.

Deliveries are scheduled Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. The addresses of families on Santa's and his many helpers' delivery routes are arranged, sorted and systematically laid out to make sure the gifts arrive at their intended destinations.

However, this process has been somewhat complicated this year because Toybox is running short of toys.

An unexpectedly high number of families have asked for Christmas assistance, about 70 more than organizers had planned.

Gifts are still arriving and it's not too late to give a toy and make a child's holiday brighter.

Volunteers will be working through the weekend and on Monday and Tuesday to make sure every child on the list receives a gift.

New, unwrapped toys may be delivered to the Southeast Missourian, 301 Broadway, or to the following Toybox drop-off spots: West Park Mall, Boatmen's Bank, Capital Bank, Perry Travel Center, Gulliver's Travel Agency, AmeriFirst Bank, Commerce Bank, Farm and Home Savings Association and Mercantile Bank.

Gifts and contributions may be mailed to Toybox Trust, P.O. Box 4, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-0004.

For more information, call Kim McDowell at 335-6611.