SANTA, HELPERS HEAD OUT FOR TOYBOX DELIVERIES TONIGHT

Santa Claus and a few dozen helpers will be out tonight making some early Christmas deliveries.

Thousands of toys donated to the annual Toybox campaign will be given to needy Cape Girardeau youngsters. The children get the added bonus of a personal visit from the man in red himself.

Scott McClanahan, Toybox chairman for the Cape Girardeau Jaycees, said most of today will be spent making sure everything goes smoothly tonight.

Delivering toys to 470 families in two hours requires the help of 21 Santas, each riding in a van with at least two helpers. "We will have 70 to 75 people working," McClanahan said.

"Several of us will be spending much of the afternoon gathering vehicles and loading the vehicles and making sure the Santa suits are there," McClanahan said.

Toys are organized by families along 21 different routes that cover the city.

"We're going to try to preload some of the vans. It takes quite a while. We have to load the vans in the order of the stops so they can get to the toys for the first stop first."

A last-minute influx of toys and some rapid shopping allowed Toybox to provide gifts for all the children.

"We ran very close," McClanahan said. "We used every item we had on hand when we filled the last bag. But the applications are filled and they are routed and we are ready."

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

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