Last year, the Press Herald Toy Fund scrambled to meet a surge in applications for help from families struggling with rising prices for food, rent and other expenses.
So, just in case, the organizers planned for an even bigger year in 2025.
Not big enough.
The 76-year-old charity now expects to blow past the anticipated demand — 4,000 children — and is placing another order for gifts to make sure all Maine children in need will have new toys and books to unwrap during the upcoming holidays.
The flood of letters from parents seeking help from the Toy Fund describe an unforgiving economy in which an illness, a layoff or a car repair can be enough to break a budget and deprive deserving children of the simple joys of the holidays. For some families, it’s simply the rising cost of living that forced them to seek help.
“This year has been a hard one for our family,” a Midcoast mother of three wrote on her application. “We’re doing everything we can to keep things steady — working long hours, cutting back where we can, and trying to stay positive for the kids — but it feels like we just can’t get ahead. The cost of everything has gone up, and by the time the essentials are covered, there’s not much left for extras, especially around the holidays.
“As parents, we want nothing more than to see our kids’ faces light up on Christmas morning, to give them that feeling of magic and joy they’ll remember forever,” she wrote.
“It’s hard to admit when you need help, but we’re hoping the Toy Fund can help bring a little light back into our home this season. Knowing that there are people out there who care — who want to make sure children still feel the joy of Christmas — means more than words can say.”
The Toy Fund uses the donations of newspaper readers to buy toys and books for kids up to 16 years old in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Androscoggin and Knox counties.
The Portland Press Herald and Lewiston Sun Journal publish lists of the donations, along with stories about the holiday gift drive, from Thanksgiving through the month of December.
Those who make an online donation from Thanksgiving Day through Giving Tuesday (Dec. 2) will be entered to win four tickets to the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Magic of Christmas.
The following four donations arrived at the end of the 2024-25 season and brought last winter’s fundraising total to $195,594.74.
- $5,000.00: Paul and Kathleen Anderson
- $263.34: Michael Simmons
- $100.00: Happy holidays — Fred Bopp
- $105.84: Anonymous
These donations were the first to arrive for the 2025-26 season.
- $52.92: Anonymous
- $300.00: Judy Ricks
- $150.00: Christian Smith
- $250.00: Lions Club of Cape Elizabeth
- $100.00: Teresa Messer
- $400.00: Elizabeth Rennie
- $500.00: NBT Bank
- 4 tickets: Maine Mariners Hockey
- $500.00: Maine Community Bank
- $100.00: John Testa
- $500.00: Machias Savings Bank
- $210.73: In memory of Mark Storm — Anonymous
- $500.00: Anonymous
- $25.00: In memory of my friend Mark Storms — Linda Ferreira
- $100.00: Concetta Leonardi
- $52.92: Anonymous
- $52.92: Celia Wakefield
- $52.92: Work hard and be kind — Anonymous
- $105.52: Pamela Ferland
Year to date total: $3,952.93.
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 and Lewiston Sun Journal unless a donor wishes to remain anonymous.