TOYS FOR CHRISTMAS COME FROM WORKSHOP AT VETERANS HOME

Lester Harris' initial involvement with Toybox inspired an idea that has given residents at the Missouri Veterans Home a recreational outlet.

"I'll never forget making that wooden canopy bed and child's high chair for a little girl named Sarah four years ago," Harris, a resident of Fruitland, said.

"When I heard how excited she was to get the bed, high chair and long-haired Cabbage Patch doll, I thought maybe the veterans could make something for Toybox every year. From that we realized that they should make toys year-round."

So Harris started a woodworking shop at the Missouri Veterans Home. Eleven months out of the year the veterans produce toys that will be sold to stores throughout the country. Some of the proceeds help fund a recreational program for the Missouri Veterans. Another portion is used to buy wood to make more toys.

During the final month of the year, the Missouri veterans donate several toys to Toybox, a joint project of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and Southeast Missourian.

"Seeing a man get out of his wheelchair to sand down a piece of wood just showed me how important this program was," Harris said. "It makes a lot of these guys feel useful and it goes toward a good cause. This is the only veterans home in the state that makes toys for a recreational program."

Harris said the Missouri Veterans Home could use more volunteers to help sand and varnish the wood on the toys he makes. "It doesn't take a tremendous amount of skill," he said. "Once the guys get going on this, they have a lot of fun."

The Missouri Veterans Home donated 12 high chairs, 12 rocking horses and six cradles to the Toybox project this year.

"It makes these men feel important to be building something for a needy child," Harris said. "They never get to see the look on the child's face when he or she receives the present, but I do get to see the look on the faces of these guys when they work on the toys. They enjoy what they're doing very much."

Toybox is heading toward the most critical phase this week. New, unwrapped toys may be delivered to the Southeast Missourian, 301 Broadway, or to the following Toybox collection sites : West Park Mall, Boatmen's Bank, Capital Bank, Perry Travel Center, Gulliver's Travel Agency, AmeriFirst Bank, Commerce Bank, Roosevelt Bank and Mercantile Bank.

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