MOREHOUSE, Mo. (AP) - A southeast Missouri Christmas drive started by truckers nine years ago has grown from providing gifts for a dozen needy children to now serving more than 125.
Truckers for Kids organizers say the annual toy drive has become a tradition that brightens the holiday for children and participants alike.
"It got started because a family needed help at Christmas, and since my husband, Preston, is a truck driver, his friends heard about it and started sending money to help," said Diane Cook, of Morehouse. "It blossomed from there."
The Southeast Missourian (http://bit.ly/v1aU7r) reported that Truckers for Kids, a family-run, not-for-profit organization, gave Christmas gifts last year to 128 children in from 28 area schools.
In addition to toys - chosen with input from school personnel - each recipient receives an outfit, hat and gloves, a scarf if possible, underwear, toothbrush, toothpaste and a goody bag with fruit and candy.
Cook said she learns of children in need from school counselors and teachers. With permission from the children's families, school personnel fill out a form and send information to the charity.
Gifts generally are delivered to recipients' homes around the second week of December, though Cook said she sometimes is still passing them out a week after Christmas. She said she tries to deliver the gifts during the day, while the children are in school, but it doesn't always work out that way.
"Last year we delivered to a family who was living in a farm shed," Cook said. "The little boy didn't believe in Santa anymore. We came up and knocked on the door, and the boy said, "Who are you?"'
Cook said she told the boy Santa had told her he'd been good.
"He turned to his mother and said, "Mom! It's true!"' Cook said.
She said it can be heartbreaking reading children's requests, which sometimes include socks and underwear, or a box of Band-Aids and a mattress to sleep on at night.
Cook's daughter, Toni Cook, said the personal touch Truckers for Kids puts into purchasing gifts separates it from other holiday campaigns.
"We have the schools get detailed information about what the children want for Christmas," Toni Cook said. "We do get personal and find out what the child likes. We actually find out their interests - whether it's wrestling, Barbies or NASCAR - and try to get them something they're wanting."
Toni Cook, whose children ages 15 and 12 help with the toy drive, said her kids and other young family members know the current trends and help find gifts children would want. She said her children take a day out of school to help deliver the presents.
"It gives them a new concept on life," Toni Cook said. "We all take for granted what we've got. When a kid asks for a mattress to sleep on, or they just ask for a nice shirt to wear to school so they don't get made fun of, it makes you see - and it makes our kids see - they are very lucky."
She said parents of the children who receive gifts also benefit from the annual drive.
"It's a huge relief to parents who don't think they're going to provide anything that year," she said.
Most of the donations come from truck drivers, but public donations are always welcome, Diane Cook said.
"Money is always needed, but if you can't give money, then we can always use basketballs, footballs, baby dolls or anything like that," she said.
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Information from: Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com