TOYBOX ORGANIZERS SHARE `WISH LISTS'

Perhaps you have been reading the daily Toybox stories in the newspaper or are familiar with the Toybox effort, you want to contribute, but you just don't know what to buy.

After all, if you have been in a toy section of any department store lately, you know there are about a zillion different of toys for kids of all ages.

Karen Byrum, who serves as the co-chairman of the Toybox drive for the Cape Girardeau Jaycees, said that there is a great demand this year for Barbie dolls, G.I. Joe's and other action figures as well as Barney toys and baby dolls.

"We need Barbie clothes, too," said Julia Cowsert, a Jaycee volunteer. "Everyone is asking for new wardrobes for their Barbie dolls."

But there is also a need for boy's toys such as trucks, cars and dinosaurs, Byrum added.

"We'll take just about anything," she said. "Everything will find it's way into some little child's Christmas."

Yolanda has asked for rather unique gifts for her 15-month-old daughter Sionisia.

"My baby is more advanced that other children her age," said Yolanda on her Toybox application. To encourage her child's natural curiosity and desire to learn, Yolanda has asked Toybox for a See and Say toy, building blocks and ABC magnets with a magnetic board on which to place them.

Other parents have requested books to fuel their children's joy for reading, educational games from which they can learn while they are playing, and talking bears that read along with young children just learning to read.

Applications are being accepted at the Salvation Army Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-noon and from 2-4 p.m. through Dec. 15.

Those filling out applications must bring with them identification, proof of current address and Social Security cards for everyone in the family.

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.

Gifts will be delivered Dec. 21 by Santa Claus and a team of elves from the Jaycees.

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