RETURNING TO SCHOOL TOUGH FOR MOM OF 2

Tring to improve herself will cost one single mother her children's Christmas presents this year unless she receives help.

A mother of two returned to school after she and her husband separated recently. Tuition is high, she said, and she can't afford to pay tuition for next semester and buy Christmas gifts, too.

"My husband and I are separated," she wrote,"and I have gone back to school so I can get a better job with better pay. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a job, and I cannot afford presents for my son and daughter this year."

The mother said her son wants a toy battleship. She said her daughter would like to receive a Baby Tumbles doll for Christmas.

Toybox, in its 22nd year, is co-sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian. The program provides Christmas presents to 1,200 children each year.

All donations will be used to buy gifts for children through the age of 12 who otherwise might not receive Christmas gifts.

New, unwrapped toys and gifts may be delivered to the Southeast Missourian office or area drop-off points at West OPark Mall, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Boatmen's Bank, Gulliver's Travel Aency, Mercantile Bank, Union Planters Bank, AAA Travel Agency, First National Bank, Commerce Bank and Sanders True Value Hardware.

Gifts will be delivered by a team of Jaycee Santas on Dec. 19.

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