Like busy little elves, seven local people unloaded five full carloads of toys for the West Paris Free Christmas Tree Shop.

Marybeth Ray and Lorie O’Neil, both of West Paris, guided the team Dec. 4, unloading donations onto and under eight fold-out tables each labeled by recipient: boy, girl, teen, baby, toddler or parent.

The West Paris Free Christmas Shop will be held Saturday, Dec. 13, from 1-3 p.m. in the Fellowship Room at West Paris Baptist Church, 15 Church St.

O’Neil spent the past several days crisscrossing Oxford Hills, picking up donations from people she met at the Oxford Hannaford parking lot, the Stars and Strikes Bowling Alley, and homes in Woodstock and West Paris — about a dozen stops in all.

Beth Weisberger, co-owner of The Gem Theater in Bethel, called O’Neil after setting out a basket in the lobby. “Per fire code, I need you to come get these toys, it’s overflowing,” she said.

“My whole van was full from just that stop,” O’Neil said.

On Dec. 4, Sandra Poland delivered a check from the Good Will Fellowship of the First Universalist Church of West Paris, which Ray said they will use to shop for more toys to fill age gaps.

Other volunteers included parishioner Edie Okenquist; Ray’s husband, T.J.; O’Neil’s husband, Kevin; Ron Bouchard; O’Neil’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Robert King, of New York.

Last year was their “learning year,” Ray said, after a failed attempt to connect with a volunteer to donate her children’s toys to Hartford.

“We should have something here to help families here,” she said. “That’s how it started.” Extra toys from other local drives helped get them going, too.

The organizers aim to make the drive inclusive.

“We’re not asking any questions. This is not an income-based thing,” Ray said of the recipients, some who were grandparents raising grandchildren. “The people who came last year were very appreciative. Some parents were almost crying. They were very grateful.”

Last year, O’Neil and Ray counted 12-15 parents in the line and calculated that each child could receive three toys, a stuffed animal, and five stocking stuffers. At the end of the drive, Ray delivered one final leftover box of toddler toys to a parent who couldn’t attend.

Like last year, a “wrapping table” will be staffed by church volunteers who will wrap gifts before they are loaded into cars. The ladies will offer hot chocolate and cookies to shoppers, too.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the church, children will be choosing gifts for their parents.

“(Last year) the kids were so excited,” O’Neil recalled. “They felt like they pulled off this big secret because their parents didn’t know what they had picked, and it was all wrapped up, so there was no way they could know until Christmas morning.”