As holiday nears, groups plea for toys

Chris Mullin, volunteer coordinator at the Home for Little Wanderers, sorted toys yesterday. (ZARA TZANEV for the Boston Globe)

Richard wants a remote control car, Karen would like a coat. But Valeria, not even a year old, has a gift certificate to Stop & Shop on her wish list.

Throughout the area, toy drives have fallen victim to an economic recession - donations to Toys for Tots are down 50 percent from last year - leaving more people in need and fewer people able to donate, according to organizers. And while some organizations vow to stick to their mission to provide children with shiny new toys under the tree, others have expanded their drives to include everyday necessities - gifts organizers say are increasingly more requested by families.

The Home for Little Wanderers, which cares for children referred by the Department of Children and Families, has seen an increase in requests for grocery store gift certificates, shoes, and clothes from children and families through their online gift donation program. The requests from Richard, Karen, and Valeria were submitted recently to the home's online database. And calls flooding Action for Boston Community Development's phone lines have included requests for clothes as well as toys.

"This year, the demand is out of sight," said Susan Kooperstein, a spokeswoman for ABCD, which gave out between 4,000 and 5,000 toys to families last year.

This year, the organization has received about twice as many requests, according to Robert Coard, ABCD's president and CEO. So far, fewer than 3,000 toys have been collected. "Not a lot," he said. "Not enough."

The organization has also been collecting clothes for needy families and has a partnership with Wainwright Bank & Trust to collect money and toys, Coard said.

While local groups aim to address the most basic needs of the families, Toys for Tots has remained focused on collecting toys, "to put a smile on a child's face," said Lieutenant Eric Anderson, a spokesman for the State Police. State Police have set up Toys for Tots drop-off boxes at every barrack. "We have some toys in all the boxes," said Anderson, though only about half as many toys have been donated as last year. "Depending on where you go, some are more full than others."

"We're pleading with the public to step up and donate toys," said Anderson. The deadline for donations is Dec. 19.

In the toy room at the Home for Little Wanderers' South Huntington Street location, volunteers organized donated toys on tables lined up in the small gymnasium. The Home holds a toy drive every year for the children in their 20 programs.

"It looks like right now we are down a little," said Colleen Fitzpatrick the Home's director of volunteers and community outreach. "But we are hopeful that we will be having more toys getting closer to Christmas."

Donations came to the toy room at a slow drip yesterday, but organizers hope that people like Rhys Gardiner, who dropped off her third load of gifts yesterday, will stop by in larger numbers as the holiday approaches.

On her third visit to the toy room, Gardiner left bags of kitchen supplies, including a toucan can opener. In previous visits, she said she left shampoo, lotion, and 85 pairs of fleece socks.

Gardiner, 46, of Boston, who hopes to adopt a teen soon, said the amount she has spent on donations is "much more than I'm spending on the rest of my family altogether."