TRYING TO MATCH TOYS WITH HOPEFUL CHILDREN

Volunteers with the 1995 Toybox toy drive have started working to match donated toys with children who are hoping for a merry Christmas.

As anyone who's ever Christmas-shopped for children can attest, some items are more in demand than others.

"We need basketballs, baseballs, Barbies, Power Rangers," said Kerry Reeves, co-chair of the toy drive. "We have gotten a lot of stuffed animals, and a lot of baby dolls."

"We could use stuff for older girls and older boys," she said.

Volunteers try to sort toys by children's ages and by the items children have requested, Reeves said. But any gift will be appreciated by children who, without Toybox, might have no Christmas at all.

Organizers get a lot of requests for big ticket items like Sega Genesis or Nintendo systems and game cartridges, bicycles and stereo equipment, and donations of those items are certainly appreciated, she said, "but we're just as happy to get the Barbie dolls. A lot of people see those requests and think, I can't afford to buy those things for my kids."

Cash donations to Toybox will be used to supplement donated toys, Reeves said. Organizers have started some toy shopping and will continue to fill children's applications.

Toys will be delivered to children between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Dec. 21 by Jaycees Santas and elves. The Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian are sponsoring the toy drive.

New, unwrapped toys may be dropped off at Boatmen's Bank, Capital Bank, Coldwell Banker, Gulliver's Travels, Commerce Bank, Mercantile Bank, First National Bank, Chuck E. Cheese's, West Park Mall or the Southeast Missourian.

Donations may be mailed to the Toy Box Trust, P.O. Box 4, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0004.

Children ages 12 and under who live within the Cape Girardeau city limit are eligible to receive toys through Toy Box.

Parents have until Friday to apply for their children to receive toys. Applications, which must include children's Social Security numbers, must be turned in to the Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope in Cape Girardeau.