~ After Katrina and other disasters, people may have met their limits for monetary donations.

The Salvation Army has seen a lull in giving this Christmas as Cape Girardeau residents experience a case of donor fatigue.

Maj. Michael Thomas reports that the Southeast Missouri branch of the Salvation Army is $60,000 short of its $260,000 holiday giving goal.

"It'll be tight, if weather holds up and our kettle volunteers do well we have a shot," he said, "I've been here 20 years. We've had slow years and we've had exceptional years. I would have to say this is a slow year."

The Salvation Army has 14 kettle locations in Cape Girardeau, one in Jackson and one in Perryville. Forty percent of its annual budget comes from the holiday drive lasting from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24th.

"We've also had some problems getting locations manned," says Thomas, "I don't know whether or not that's because of the weather or what, but if we don't meet those goals we may have to cut some area services like prescription assistance or help with paying utility bills."

Thomas says that in his 20-year affiliation with the Salvation Army, he has never been unable to meet the holiday drive goals.

Nationwide this has been a banner year for giving. Americans opened their wallets and gave $1.6 billion to tsunami victims in Southeast Asia and followed that effort with $3 billion for Gulf Coast residents after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area in September.

The Marine's Toys for Tots drive has not, however, felt the squeeze. Jimmie Winder reports that as the 25-hour toy drive ended on Friday, Toys for Tots had collected an estimated 2000 toys in Cape Girardeau alone.

The Toybox holiday drive, co-sponsored by the Southeast Missourian, got off to a slow start, but eventually enough contributions came in to give every child on the list at least one toy.

"We have served over 400 families who requested toys for families," said organizer Kim McDowell. "We met the toy needs of all of our families. There may not be enough bikes to go around and no one got the Xboxes they asked for, but every child got at least one thing off his or her list."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245