MEXICO — A local nonprofit organization that provides new clothing and toys for needy children is kicking off its annual program from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday at 33 Roxbury Road.
Margaret McNeil said she will continue to run Santa’s Helpers, a nonprofit group founded by her mother, Dorothy Sanchas, in the late 1970s. It provides deserving children and their parents with new clothing and toys each Christmas.
“After my mother passed away six years ago, I took over running the Free Store, which was located inside the building on 33 Roxbury Road,” McNeil said Friday. “My mother used to run the Free Store, but last year, I decided to close it because it just wasn’t paying for itself anymore.”
The Free Store provided essential household items, free of charge, to the needy in the River Valley.
Even after the Free Store closed, McNeil said she couldn’t stop doing Santa’s Helpers.
“There’s just too many kids in need of clothing and toys around Christmastime,” she said.
To qualify for the program, families need to be MaineCare recipients and have children ages 12 and younger.
“We don’t ask for their income, and we don’t ask for anything else,” McNeil said. “As long as they provide proof of MaineCare, they qualify for the program.”
Qualifying families can come to the building at 33 Roxbury Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays to receive new clothing and toys.
“We used to be located downstairs in the building, but the Speck Mountain Church has since moved in there,” McNeil said. “If people want to get to us now, they’ll have to go in through the front door and go upstairs.”
The program will last until Christmas Day.
“Usually, I’m at the building on Christmas Eve, scrounging things together for Christmas,” McNeil said.
McNeil said more than 400 children were served during the last couple of years.
“Every year, we have volunteers helping us out and purchasing clothes for these families to have,” she said. “The people in this community are so wonderful. Everybody really steps up so these kids and their families can have a great Christmas.
“We have one woman who comes in throughout the weeks and asks if we need anything,” McNeil said. “I let her know what sizes we need and what types of clothes we need, and she goes out and buys them. The community is absolutely wonderful.”
For more information or to donate to Santa’s Helpers, call McNeil at 357-8772.
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