POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- Polk County Toys for Tots needs the public's help. The organization desperately needs more toy donations to come in this week.
- Toys for Tots in need of more toys
- Officials fear they won't be able to serve all families in need
- The biggest need is toys for babies and preteens
- Where to drop off toy donations: Toys for Tots
With the influx of hurricane evacuees this year, the organization's volunteers fear it may not be able to serve all of the families in need.
"We are in a crisis. We are serving 2,000 more children than last year," assistant coordinator Dorothy Dunlap said.
In all, the nonprofit is set to serve more than 11,000 children this year.
"Toys are being donated but they are going out faster than they are going in," Dunlap said.
Dunlap attributes the increase to a variety of things, but one of the biggest reasons is natural disasters.
"We have a number of families that have been misplaced by the hurricanes in the Panhandle that have come here. We all know that there are a lot of families from Puerto Rico that have come into the county," Dunlap said.
The biggest need is toys for babies and preteens.
"This is our game aisle. We've had to limit the games to one game per family because we don't have enough to give out more," Dunlap said.
They've already put most of the orders in bags. But volunteers still have about a thousand more orders to fill.
"We try to give each child two to three toys. And we are running very, very, very, low," Dunlap said.
Parents whose applications were approved will pick up their toys on December 15 at distribution locations across the county.