Venango County Toys for Tots will hold its annual toy distribution Saturday at the Oil City VFW.
Organizers are asking registrants with last names beginning with the letters A to M to arrive for pickup between 9 a.m. and noon and those with last names beginning with the letters N to Z to arrive between noon and 2 p.m.
Toys for Tots coordinator Lisa Winger said distribution will be contactless, so those receiving toys must remain in their vehicles.
Winger said vehicle occupants are asked to wear a mask while interacting with volunteers, who will also be wearing appropriate personal protective equipment.
“A lot of our volunteers work in the health care field so they have to be really careful,” Winger said.
To help keep a social distance, Winger said the campaign has also limited the amount of volunteers who will be working Saturday.
“We’re really begging people to please be patient,” she said.
Winger said there are more than 600 children registered for this year’s distribution.
That number increased from nearly 500, a total that at the time seemed quite large. With the added monkey wrench of a global pandemic that has put many area families out of work or on the ropes, Winger said the campaign needed community support more than ever.
“It’s been a struggle. Normally we have such a giving community – businesses and schools hold competitions against each other, things like that, but with the pandemic we’ve had to change things,” Winger said.
While donations through in-person giving saw a slight dip, Winger said the campaign received “extremely generous monetary donations” from both businesses and individuals.
Those donations allow Winger and her team of volunteer elves to go and search out the items on Santa’s shopping list themselves and then provide the gifts to the children.
“We can definitely bring Christmas to them this year,” she said.
