Volunteer Barbi Diaz, of Cape Elizabeth, right, and Jeff Ham, operations manager of the Press Herald Toy Fund, sort toys for the 2024 Toy Fund at the Press Herald office in South Portland. Michele McDonald/Portland Press Herald

The Portland Press Herald Toy Fund is getting a surge of applications for help from families who say they are struggling to afford even the basic needs as the holidays approach.

Organizers of the 75-year-old charity say they are on pace to provide gifts for 4,000 children this year and had to place additional orders for toys and books to meet the unexpected increase in demand. The Toy Fund has typically served about 3,000 children in each of the last few years.

Many families who applied wrote that they are overwhelmed by the cost of living as prices for rent and groceries are at historic highs after years of steady increases. Some parents say unexpected events, such as an illness or family breakup, have pushed them over the edge financially. More than a few parents said they and their children are homeless and staying in a shelter or with friends.

“Been struggling just getting food on the table,” a mother of four from Androscoggin County wrote on her application. “Working 40-plus hour weeks and still can’t get ends to meet. The cost of everything is up but my checks are the same. Rent keeps going up, and this time of the year heating is an added bill I will also have to struggle with.”

A mother of two from Cumberland County simply wrote: “I cannot even buy Christmas dinner let alone gifts.”

The charity provides new, age-appropriate toys and books for children up to 16 years old who live in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Androscoggin and Knox counties.

About 35 volunteers inside the Toy Fund’s bustling workshop have been working for weeks to sort the gifts, which are purchased with money donated by readers. The Press Herald publishes lists of the donations along with daily stories about the holiday gift drive from Thanksgiving through the month of December.

“We have donors that have been donating for decades,” Toy Fund Board President Karen Beaudoin said. “We have families whose parents donated, and now the children are donating.”

While some supporters send in large recurring donations, they don’t see their impact directly, Beaudoin said, whether that is watching the volunteers or meeting the grateful parents and grandparents who are picking up the gifts. The children who receive the toys and books typically never know about the Toy Fund, or about the generous strangers who donated money or volunteered their time.

Over 900 families submitted applications this year through 31 social services agencies, churches and schools that partner with the Toy Fund. And, as of Monday, more than 713 other families submitted their own applications asking for gifts for about 1,900 children. Applications are available at pressherald.com/toyfundapplication. The deadline is Sunday.

One of the partner groups, High Street Congregational Church in Lewiston, submitted applications for 62 families that participate in the church’s food pantry.

Group leader Rose Stansfield said most of the families they are helping are new immigrants. The church printed out applications in English, French, Portuguese, Swahili and Lingala. The applicants celebrate many winter holidays, like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, she said.

The church rented a U-Haul van to pick up and deliver the gifts this year. It was stuffed from the floor to the ceiling, Stansfield said.

She said the families have as many as nine children. Some families are facing homelessness and living in hotel rooms, and many are struggling to buy food.

“I don’t think that people understand the impact that their donations to the Toy Fund make until they actually see these parents picking up their toys for their kids,” Stansfield said. “We’ve had people come in and say, ‘If it wasn’t for this, we wouldn’t be able to give our kids anything.’ They’re just so grateful and they’re so excited to be able to help their children.”

Toy Fund Operations Manager Jeff Ham said the charity has already ordered a second round of toys to keep up with this year’s increased demand. The gifts come from a wholesale toy company in Ohio and local businesses Smitty’s Cinemas, Catalyst for Change, Islandport, Maine Hardware, Sherman’s and Reny’s.

Although the Toy Fund is serving more families, Ham said supporters always meet the need.

“I can’t say we’ll always be that way, but it is something that people just do,” he said. “The support seems to be there year after year.”

For more information about the charity, including how to donate, visit pressherald.com/toy-fund.

TODAY’S DONATIONS:

John and Donna Testa  $100

Because Christmas is for kids! Anonymous       $105

Dear Joe, Doreen, Alex and Danny, In Memory of your dad and grandfather. With love, Lisa, Tom and Family                Anonymous         $31.87

Karl and Beth Jacobsen                $250

Joseph Long      $300

Anonymous       $526.35

In memory of Gene Miner           Berman & Simmons      $100

In memory of Gene Miner. You are loved and greatly missed. David and Deborah Perry      $105.52

In memory of Gene Miner           Marie Ciccarone              $20

Pamela Ferland               $100

In memory of Gene Miner.          John Mesko        $52.91

In memory of Ruth and Paul Gonya        Anonymous                 $526.35

From Brendan, Pippin and Petey             Michael and Sandra Conroy $30

From John and Nancy   David and Natalie Murray           $25

In memory of Anna Trouvalis     C.G. Trouvalis      $400

Alphee & Judith Lefebvre             $50

In memory of Don Hawkes         Barbara Hawkes              $30

Leslie Davenport             $100

Gary & Pamela Nickless              $100

In memory of Granna Hilly and Woodie                Anonymous                 $100

YEAR TO DATE:  $3,053

HOW TO HELP

To make a donation online, go to pressherald.com/toy-fund.

Checks made out to the Portland Press Herald Toy Fund may be mailed to 295 Gannett Drive, South Portland ME 04106.

Names of donors are published in the Press Herald unless a donor wishes to remain anonymous.