WILLIAMSPORT -- Hundreds of families in central Pennsylvania will not be getting Christmas baskets this year because there isn't enough money.
One charity decided to discontinue the giveaway and it didn't take long for another charity to follow suit.
Organizers for both groups say it costs less to hold community Christmas dinners instead of handing out individual Christmas gift baskets.
Even so, people say they will miss those baskets this holiday season.
Groceries are bagged up at the Salvation Army on Market Street in Williamsport, but this year people will not get additional groceries for Christmas. The Salvation Army says it is trying something new.
"We said, 'let's give everyone more food each month instead of waiting until Christmas and they only get one food basket,'" Tony Perrotta said.
The Salvation Army in Williamsport usually gives out around 600 Christmas baskets. People who receive them are disappointed.
"I work 40 hours a week and I'm barely getting by. For them to totally cut it out, it makes it much harder," John Downs said.
Another organization in Williamsport, the American Rescue Workers, is in the same boat. Members say donations are down. Add in the Salvation Army's decision, along with the closing of another charity (the Love Center in Jersey Shore), and the rescue workers figured they can't do Christmas baskets either.
"There was no way that realistically the Williamsport American Rescue Workers could absorb the influx of families that are normally helped through those programs," Dawn Astin said.
The decisions by both organizations not to hand out Christmas baskets will leave around 2,300 people without them. Instead, both organizations will have Christmas dinners.
A representative for the American Rescue Workers says it's much more cost-effective to have a community Christmas dinner rather than to hand out individual Christmas food baskets.
"The fees are astronomical compared to cooking the dinner here where all of the resources are and then serving the dinner here," Astin said.
"That will save us a lot of money, money that we don't have to spend on other things," Downs said.
The Salvation Army's Christmas dinner is December 21 from 1-3 p.m. and the American Rescue Workers' dinner is on Christmas from 12-4 p.m. Both organizations say they will still hold their toy drives this year.