This is the last week to make a donation to the Christmas Program through the Maine Children's Home, and they need help meeting their goal. Because the gift boxes need to be filled and distributed, the cutoff date is Sunday.

It feels early to be donating to a toy drive, but Program Director Cristen Sawyer told us it takes a lot of effort from their volunteers to sort all the different gifts and pack them into boxes. Each box contains new clothing and toys so putting them together is time-consuming. Then, of course, the boxes need to be distributed. Sawyer says they try to get the gifts out early enough to give parents some peace of mind over the holidays, knowing that they have some things to give their children.

The final packing day is this Sunday, so they really need your help making sure that the 1,700 children they serve wake up Christmas morning with gifts under their trees! You can drop donations off at the Maine Children's Home, Building #3, 93 Silver Street in Waterville. Or, if it's off-hours, leave them at The Winslow House of Pizza. And, of course, you can always make a monetary donation online and the volunteers will do the shopping for you!

I remember when my kids were little and I was a single parent. Christmas was such a stressful time because I knew that I wouldn't be able to buy my kids more than a few small presents. A program like this one would have been such a relief! Let's work together to give these kids a Christmas to remember.

For more information about the program and the items still needed, log onto the website for the Maine Children's Home.

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