TOYBOX BUILDS ON RECORD OF COMMUNITY GENEROSITY

Do you believe in Santa Claus or perhaps the spirit of Christmas? Toybox organizers do.

That giving spirit explains the success of a community-based project to provide Christmas toys and holiday cheer to needy children in Cape Girardeau. This year marks the 18th annual Toybox drive, coordinated by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

"I think the success of the program shows that there is still a little bit of a child in all of us, and we all still believe in Santa a little bit," said Sally Owen, who coordinated the newspaper's coverage for years.

The program expects to provide Christmas toys for over 1,000 needy children this year. Gifts traditionally pour in at a phenomenal rate during the final days of the campaign as people make sure each child will receive a gift.

When the joint project of the Southeast Missourian and the Cape Girardeau Jaycees began 18 years ago, organizers wondered if they were too ambitious asking for donations of 300 toys.

The Jaycees Operation Santa Claus became Toybox in 1975. Former Southeast Missourian Editor John Blue recalled the beginning of this holiday tradition.

"The Jaycees had conducted a program for several years before we got involved," Blue said. "We were promoting it with news stories, but they were not getting the response we felt they should."

Blue approached the Jaycees and suggested the civic organization and newspaper team up. They agreed.

Jim Hendrickson, president of the Jaycees in 1975, explained: "For years, the Jaycees had Operation Santa Claus. We would get donations and gifts, and distributed them through names we received through social services organizations."

Hendrickson recalled that in 1975, Blue contacted the Jaycees and offered the support of the newspaper to the project.

"He talked with Tom Masterson, who was a vice president and really coordinated the project that first year," Hendrickson said.

When the Jaycees operated the program alone, he said, getting the word out and the gifts back in was the hardest part. The Jaycees have always been on-call to deliver gifts.

"We were enthusiastic about the idea," Hendrickson said. "When the Missourian came up with the idea we were just ecstatic. We didn't know what to expect, but it was overwhelming that first year."

Sally Owen, then reporter for the Southeast Missourian, took the program under her wing. Owen now works in public relations at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

"That first year we asked for a small toy for each of the children," Owen said. "There were about 300 kids on the list.

"We literally put a toy box in the front of the office and asked people to contribute, and they did. We got about 700 toys that first year."

Blue said, "The first year we promoted it as a joint project we got donations in tremendous numbers."

Owen recalled, "That first year everyone in the newsroom wrapped every gift."

"Oh my," Blue said, "what a chore it was."

Owen said, "We didn't really know what the response would be. We didn't know if we were being too ambitious to ask people to buy a toy for a child they would never see or never know.

"The next year went up to almost 2,000 toys, and it just kind of grew over the years," Owen said.

Last year, the community gave truckloads of toys too numerous for organizers to even count.

"We did not begin asking for cash donations, that just happened. When cash started coming in, we began to wonder what to do with the money. We decided we could buy warm coats and clothing for the neediest children," Owen said.

"It's been incredible to watch the growth," Owen said. "Some years have been leaner than others as far as economics go. But there has never been a year that people didn't respond. We often see the same people every year with handmade items or gifts."

"Actually this is not a project of the Missourian and the Jaycees, it belongs to the whole community," Owen said.

Toys collected in this year's campaign will be delivered Dec. 17 by a team of Jaycees Santas and helpers.

Applications for Toybox will be accepted at the Salvation Army headquarters, 701 Good Hope, through Dec. 11 from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2-4 p.m.

New and unwrapped gifts for children from birth through age 12 may be delivered to any of the following locations: Southeast Missourian, 301 Broadway, Boatmen's Bank Cape Girardeau locations, Capital Bank Cape Girardeau locations, Commerce Bank, Farm and Home Savings Association, Perry Travel Center, Gulliver's Travel Agency, and West Park Mall.

Donations may be mailed to Toybox Trust, P.O. Box 1626, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-1626, or dropped off at the Southeast Missourian.

For more information, call Kim McDowell at 335-6611 during daytime business hours.