Holiday Helpers elves and organizers Theresa Daunais, left, and Barbara Granish hold some of this year’s donated toys for the toy drive, which happens today at the Saranac Lake Baptist Church. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Today is the present pick-up day for the Saranac Lake Holiday Helpers toy drive. This year, around 80 families will be going to the Saranac Lake Baptist Church gymnasium, which is chock-full of toys donated by the community, to pick out free gifts to give to their children on Christmas morning — around 200 kids this year.

Organizer Patti Ploof said they can’t do this without the community. There’s a core group of organizers, including Dawn Rogers, Theresa Daunais and Barbara Granish, but lots of people donate time, toys, supplies and money to make Christmas happen for every child in town.

Granish said people who have benefited from this program in the past come back to volunteer, donate and give back. She said they tell her the Holiday Helpers allowed them to give their kids Christmas when they were short on cash.

Its sometimes an emotional day, she said.

“I cry when they cry,” Daunais said.

“The community has really, really stepped up this year,” Granish said.

Saranac Lake is a small town, but she said people are very generous.

Daunais and Granish got big grins talking about the truckloads of toys, pallets of clothes and heaps of food with Ploof.

Parents will be able to pick out four gifts per child from tables organized by age groups.

Each child will also get clothes, a stuffed animal, a game, a puzzle, a book and a basket of food to get them through the Christmas vacation. A lot of kids rely on the free meals they get at school, so when they’re out of school for the holidays, it puts a financial strain on their parents, or they might not eat as much.

Every family will get a turkey, a bag of potatoes from Tucker Taters, cereal, veggies, milk and OJ.

“The Baptist Church, they couldn’t be better,” Granish said.

When the gifts start coming in around November, the church stores them. Then, last Sunday, the congregation formed what Daunais called a “bucket brigade” to bring them all down and organize them.

“It’s just amazing what the community does,” she said.

Daunais and Granish said squishy stuffed animals were a big item this year. On the tables were sleds, bikes, dolls, art supplies, science kits and what Daunais called “a gazillion” LEGOs and Barbies.

They package LEGO sets and Barbie dolls together in packs of two.

“We give them friends,” Daunais said said of the dolls. “And, you know, you can’t just play with 50 LEGOs.”

There was still more coming on Friday. The Saranac Lake police were doing last-minute shopping in Plattsburgh and coming by with more.

Every toy that takes batteries comes with them included, plus a set of replacements.

Granish said they bought just about “every battery in town.”

It’s not too late to donate, Daunais added. They’ll start collecting toys for next year over the summer. Ploof said while she doesn’t mind storing toys in her basement, cash donations for summer sales are easier on her space.