Toys for Tots provides Christmas gifts for thousands of children in Carroll County along each year, but as economic times get tougher, the organization finds itself with even more children to serve.

Carlis Baker has been working with Toys for Tots for the last nine years and currently serves as the local coordinator for Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties. Toys for Tots was founded by Maj. Bill Hendricks of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1947 with a local drive that raised about 5,000 toys. In 1948 the campaign went nationwide, and to date Toys for Tots has helped about 173 million children. The organization provided toys for a record 2,405 Carroll County children ages 12 and under in 2007, but Baker expects that the need for holiday gifts will increase significantly this holiday season.

“This year we’re expecting to double that easily,” Baker said.

Toys for Tots has been Baker’s charity of choice in part because of his belief that the toys a person plays with as a child may help shape the adult that person becomes.

“I am of the opinion that firefighters are made when they receive a fire truck under the Christmas tree,” Baker said. “They don’t realize it and you don’t realize it. It’s simply a seed that’s being given to them. It’s more than just a toy. It’s a seed that blooms later in life.”

Many recommendations for Toys for Tots assistance come from counselors in elementary and middle schools across the county, and so far Baker has compiled a list of 9,000 children in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties in need of Christmas presents this year. Cardboard boxes were placed in Toys for Tots drop-off points around Carroll County in October and November, and volunteers have collected 6,000 new, unwrapped toys to distribute beneath county Christmas trees. Though impressive, the number still falls short of the 27,000 toys required to give three toys to each child already on the list.

“In nine years we’ve never turned a child away, ever turned a parent away I should say,” Baker said.

The slow start has not discouraged Baker, however. He said that the biggest time for toy donations is generally during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“It typically doesn’t kick into gear until after Thanksgiving,” Baker said. “Americans are one holiday at a time.”

Some of the gifts collected by Toys for Tots are left in drop-off boxes in the community, more than 20 of which have already been placed around Carroll County at select businesses and public facilities. Toys are then collected by Toys for Tots volunteers, about 30 of whom are working in Carroll County this year, who examine all of the gifts to avoid potential dangers and sort the toys out into different age groups.

A number of local businesses also hold individual toy drives or promotional events to help the cause. For example, Baker said the Four Seasons Express Car Wash on South Park Street is hosting a special on Dec. 6 during which customers can receive a free car wash from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. just for donating a gift to Toys for Tots.

“We are shooting for as many as we can get,” said Four Seasons Express Car Wash district manager Ben Sinclair. “We don’t want to limit ourselves with the goal.”

Southwire is also hosting its third annual community toy drive for Toy for Tots on Dec. 11 and 12. From 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on those two days, volunteers will be in Southwire’s employee resource center parking lot on Highway 27 collecting gifts. Southwire alone has collected more than 6,000 gifts for Carroll County children in the last two years, but Southwire director of corporate communication Gary Leftwich said this year the company will reach out to Haralson and Heard county children as well.

“There is a real chance, especially with the economic recession, that children in our area might wake up to find nothing under their trees on Christmas morning,” Leftwich said in an e-mail. “Southwire is proud to join with Toys for Tots to make sure that does not happen.”

Sinclair, a former Marine, said that Toys for Tots is an important program because receiving toys is such an essential part of Christmas for children.

“With the economy being as bad as it is and parents feeling the pinch, I think we need this program now more than ever,” he said.

Baker has also been working with musician and Lowell Opry House owner George Britt on a Toys for Tots concert. He did not have details for the concert yet but hopes it will be a major pull for the cause.

Baker said that Toys for Tots usually receives numerous dolls, stuffed animals, toy cars and other gifts aimed at younger children. Children ages 10 to 12 are more difficult to find gifts for. For the older Toys for Tots children, Baker recommended make-up kits for girls and hand-held video games or athletic equipment like basketballs for boys to increase the pool of gifts for that age group.

“It really concerns me that those are the kids who are suffering the most in the whole campaign,” he said.

Anyone hoping to register a child or family for Toys for Tots assistance may do so by contacting any school counselor before Dec. 12. Toys for Tots is for children ages 12 and under whose families are not receiving Christmas assistance from churches or other aid organizations.

Baker said it is important to preserve the holiday season for local children.

“Kids learn how to have faith, they learn how to have hope, all on Christmas,” Baker said.