GIRL TO PLAY SANTA IN NICARAGUA; 12-YEAR-OLD HAS 1,400 BOXES OF STUFF FOR KIDS AFFECTED BY HURRICANE.

Byline: John Huddy Daily News Staff Writer

Veronica Pomeroy has more than 1,000 reasons to be smiling for the Christmas holiday this season.

The 12-year-old Calabasas girl collected a total of 1,400 supply-filled shoe boxes from her school and the local community for Operation Christmas Child, an international relief organization for children in struggling countries.

Veronica will accompany her bountiful boxes, which contain everything from toys to toiletries, to Managua, Nicaragua, on Sunday, distributing them to children left homeless in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch's devastation.

``It's been really busy,'' said Veronica about her two months of collecting, which began in mid-September and still has donations coming in.

Despite suffering from cystic fibrosis, a congenital disease characterized by frequent respiratory infections, Veronica has spent countless hours galvanizing school and community support for the program, which is based in Boone, N.C., and headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham.

``Veronica has proven that she's a can-do kind of girl,'' said Beth Bragg, spokeswoman for Operation Christmas Child. ``Over the past few years she has donated hundreds of boxes to children. It's a really wonderful thing for her to do.''

In her first year, as a fifth-grade student at Bay Laurel Elementary School in Calabasas, Veronica collected 300 boxes. By her second year she had boosted that to 450, and now, in her third year, she has really outdone herself, collecting a staggering 1,400 shoe boxes full of donations.

``I always wanted to be the head of a project at my school,'' said Veronica, who has spent much of her free time putting together the shoe-box donations. ``It's fun seeing how many boxes I can get . . . but it's really hard work.''

Veronica has received help from her friends at Chaminade Middle School in Chatsworth, where she is in the seventh grade this year. They have gotten together in her family's garage, where the shoe boxes have taken the place of cars, to make sure all the items are in order.

``Veronica has been very successful in the project,'' said her mother, Robin, who will accompany her daughter to Nicaragua. ``The people that have been giving the boxes are just as excited about giving the boxes as the children who are getting them are. . . . It's a very moving experience.''

As an incentive for bringing in donations, students at Chaminade Middle School were given one hour of community service for handing in a box. If more than 600 boxes were collected, students were given a ``free dress'' day - an unorthodox departure from the mandatory dress code at the private school.

Veronica said that although the special day might have been an incentive to help, most students and members of the community were happy to join in the relief effort anyway.

``The boxes will definitely make the kids happy,'' said Veronica, who also rallied support from the local community by making announcements at her church. ``(The boxes) might not help with their living conditions, but at least they will take some of the suffering away.''

She will be joined on the journey by another Southland resident, Katie Soker of Huntington Beach. Each girl was asked to participate on the trip because of her outstanding contributions to the program.

Last year, Veronica trekked to Mexico City, also to help distribute her shoe-box donations. Each trip presents a potential health risk for the youngster, making inoculations a necessity.

``It was a very hard decision for us to decide whether Veronica was going to go or not,'' said Robin Pomeroy. ``The doctor gave her the go-ahead after taking all the precautions. She's worked very hard, so she deserves to go.''

Veronica's mother anticipates the same feeling they had when they were in Mexico City.

``This is not a vacation. . . . It's not a Club Med or something like that,'' she said. ``You're seeing things that you thought you might be prepared for, but then you realize you're not. . . . It's emotionally draining.''

Nevertheless, Robin Pomeroy said she plans to take part in the program again next year.

``These people don't have anything because of the hurricane,'' she said. ``It feels really good to help them out.''

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PHOTO (Color) Veronica Pomeroy, 12, of Calabasas displays some of the 1,400 gift boxes she has collected and will deliver to victims of Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua.

Phil McCarten/Daily News