Local businesses and community groups are stepping up in a variety of ways to help put smiles on the faces of Maine children during the holidays.

Maine Community Bank and NBT Bank made large donations earlier this year to help kickstart the fundraising drive. 

The Maine Podiatric Medical Association pitched in with its own generous donation this month, and Well & Good Brewing in Freeport and Rachel’s on the Green in Cumberland have been raising money for the Toy Fund in recent weeks.

Those businesses have been joined by a growing list of community group donors, including the Gorham Lions Club, the Lions Club of Cape Elizabeth and the Ivy Rebekah Lodge 5 IOOF.

L.L.Bean stepped up in a more unusual, and more literal, way by donating the services of two of its iconic Bootmobiles to deliver holiday gifts for more than 100 children living in the Midcoast.

And several organizations, including the Maine Mariners, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Stage and Portland Ovations, have pitched in by donating tickets to events. The Toy Fund has already raffled off some of those tickets to help raise funds, and the latest raffle is underway now.

Anyone making an online donation to the Toy Fund from Dec. 12-19 will be entered to win four tickets to Portland Ovations “Recycle Percussion” show at Merrill Auditorium on Jan. 22.

The support of all the businesses and groups will have a big impact in households around the state in the coming weeks. 

In the words of one grateful mother, “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 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.

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.

TODAY’S DONATIONS:

• $200.00: Andrew Candelore Jr.
• $125.00: Love Molly Molly! — Florence Hildreth & Ian McKibbin White
• $100.00: In loving memory of my husband Wayne and William York — Dorothy York
• $50.00: In memory of Ann Waterhouse — Anonymous
• $200.00: Ann & Charlie Garland
• $50.00: Lawrence R. Clough
• $300.00: David Manyan
• $200.00: In memory of Geraldine and Warren — Anonymous
• $300.00: From Mrs. G — Janice M. Gray
• $200.00: For the children. P & S — Anonymous
• $200.00: In memory of Vi & Frank — David Stopper
• $50.00: Maribeth McLaughlin & Daniel Cullinane
• $100.00: Carlton J. & Joan H. Leach
• $55.00: In memory of Leland and Jeannette Johnston — Anonymous
• $120.00: 9th C — Joseph H. Carlin
• $200.00: In loving memory of Mr. & Mrs. Emmons Johnson from Phyllis, John and family — Phyllis M. Johnson
• $150.00: In loving memory of Jane E. Quirk & Quirie from Phyllis — Phyllis M. Johnson
• $150.00: In loving memory of Larry E. Hart from the Hart and Johnson families — Phyllis M. Johnson
• $50.00: In memory of Jim and Janice Owen — James R. Morgan
• $21.36: Anonymous
• $52.90: In memory of Marilyn Todd who loved children. From everyone who loved her — Carol Ridlon
• $200.00: In the holiday spirit — Michele and Jim Russell
• $50.00: Lorna Dorsey
• $100.00: James M. and Rachel A. Madsen
• $100.00: For Grampa, who loved Christmas, from his three boys. From Mum — Patricia W. Moore

Year to date total: $53,076.49.