MORE CHARITY EFFORTS COULD USE SALVATION ARMY SCREENING

In December, the Cape Girardeau area opens its hearts and pocketbooks to support numerous charitable campaigns that benefit children and families. It is good to know that a system is in place to prevent duplication of services and to ensure that the greatest number of children benefit from such drives as Toy Box, Shop With a Cop, the Salvation Army's distribution of toys and food and several other such charitable programs.

But while most of the larger programs participate in this screening program, many of the smaller projects do not. More organizations, churches and businesses should consider using the Salvation Army as a clearinghouse for names of potential families and children for holiday helping projects. Communication is certainly the key to serving a larger volume of needy families at Christmas.

The screening process to prevent duplication originated with the Salvation Army and Toy Box, which is co-sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and Southeast Missourian. The Salvation Army reaches more than 1,000 families each year, and Toy Box serves about 1,200 children. With these kinds of numbers, it is imperative that duplication be avoided. To that end, the Toy Box program moved its application process to the Salvation Army several years ago. This effort has worked out well, and the Salvation Army deserves considerable credit for providing this important clearinghouse of charitable information.

The Division of Family Services uses the Salvation Army resources as it recommends children for the annual Shop with a Cop, which is co-sponsored by Wal-Mart and the Fraternal Order of Police. But few groups planning to distribute food baskets do the same kind of checks. That is an area that could be improved. Holiday baskets would mean even more to those families who don't receive a helping hand from anyone else.

This area is extremely generous. Whether it is holiday food and toy programs, or such major fund raisers as the Area Wide United Way, people seem to come through each and every year. Knowing that donations are not needlessly duplicated goes a long way to ensuring public trust and support of these programs.