HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It's Lisa Solarczyk's duty to sort all the Toys for Tots that come into a warehouse in Hanover Township.
"From various organizations or businesses. I just sort them according to age group, and I put them all in here, boys and girls," Solarczyk explained.
Members of the U. S. Marines and volunteers then go through the toys for folks who signed up to receive them.
"So that way, there's not mass chaos throughout the warehouse. So I'll ask the families to put special interest on their sign-in sheet, and then the volunteers will go and pick for those specific things as best they can," said Sgt. Jason Dombrowski, the regional USMC Toys for Tots coordinator.
The effort that moves through this warehouse will serve 5,000 more children than it did last year in the nine counties this group serves.
"Last year, we did about 16,000 children. This year, we're already at 21,000. Now that's with single family signups, so whether or not we everybody comes or not dictates whether we hit 21,000 children," Sgt. Dombrowski said.
Volunteers say the increase in need is because a lot of families are having trouble making ends meet this Christmas.
"More of everything, more families, more of the single families requesting toys," Solarczyk said.
As the need has grown, so has the generosity.
"The outreach from the community is fantastic. We have an oversupply of boys' and girls' toys 3 to 5, so we get a ton of donations, and monetary-wise, we kind of supplement for the older children," Sgt. Dombrowski explained.
Toy distributions for those who signed up through the Toys for Tots website will continue until the end of the week in Hanover Township.