There are crafts, science kits, NERF guns, six doll houses from FAO Schwarz, LEGOs, hand bags with nail and makeup accessories and lots and lots of cars and trucks filling the gym of the Saranac Lake Baptist Church.

This year, co-organizer Patti Ploof said they have 140 kids signed up for the Holiday Helpers. This is fewer than in past years, mostly because Saranac Lake’s young population has decreased. This is evident from the declining student enrollment in the school district.

“We’ve lost a lot of families due to housing issues,” Ploof said.

Every child gets five gifts. Kids ages 10 to 12 get four gifts and a “high-end” toy — a scooter, boombox, kayak, bike or a guitar signed by singer and songwriter Corey Smith. The older children are harder to buy for, co-organizer Dawn Martin said.

Patti Ploof shows off a set of lawn darts, one of gifts the Saranac Lake Holiday Helpers have collected for the holiday season in the gym of the Saranac Lake Baptist Church. She remembers the sharpened Jarts these are a safe version of. “We’re lucky we’re alive,” she said. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

The families who return every year are always grateful.

“The new families will just cry,” Ploof said.

Seeing the trove of toys is overwhelming, she said. It’s emotional for the organizers, too.

For some of the families, these may be the only gifts they have under the tree, Ploof said.

It warms their hearts to know kids will be opening these amazing gifts on Christmas morning.

Patti Ploof, Theresa Daunais, Dawn Martin, Ray Dora, Barb Granish and Donna Dora hold a portion of the hundreds and hundreds of gifts the Saranac Lake Holiday Helpers have collected for the holiday season in the gym of the Saranac Lake Baptist Church. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Often, they’ll get phone calls and letters from the kids after the holidays thanking Santa Claus for their gifts. Sometimes parents come to the pick-up day with cookies or thank-you letters.

Ploof said this year, several families who have gotten gifts from Holiday Helpers in the past made generous donations to the program.

“Full circle,” she said.

The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department holds a toy drive at the fire house, people fill the drop-off boxes at Best Western, Goody Goody’s and Coakley Home and Hardware. Clothing needs tags are filled out at local churches, banks and schools.

Employees at the New York State Police, state Department of Environmental Conservation, Adirondack Park Agency and Trudeau Institute all brought in truckloads of gifts.

Theresa Daunais adds a selfie light to a backpack full of gifts the Saranac Lake Holiday Helpers have collected for the holiday season in the gym of the Saranac Lake Baptist Church. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Staff at the FCI Ray Brook federal prison built a wooden chest with a lid. Ploof lifts the lid and reveals a hand-made wooden truck.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

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. The volunteers have assembled 85 food baskets massive, with some extras for those who might want them. They have turkeys, lots of fixings and Erin Mitchell from Nutrition 365 is baking sourdough bread.

Martin said the generosity of the community is “unbelievable.” She hopes people understand what their contributions have done, but she thinks most people don’t know the scale of how impressive it is. It has to be seen to be believed, she said.

Ploof said the fire department always donated to the Holiday Helpers. One year, they came in person to make their drop-off and were “blown away.”

She said they told her “we need to do more” and started their toy drive the very next year.

The generosity is contagious and the community should be so proud of itself, she added.

“Without them, this doesn’t happen,” Martin said.

Several years ago Holiday Helpers were not able to continue operating out of their former location. Saranac Lake Baptist Church Pastor Ryan Schneider called them up and offered up the church gym as a home for the toy drive. After the Sunday service this week, the congregation helped set up all the hundreds of gifts.

There’s outdoor gear like fishing rods, giant stack of sleds and a set of glow-in-the-dark lawn darts, a safer non-sharpened version of the Jarts of their childhood.

“We’re lucky we’re alive,” Ploof said, with a laugh.

“We’re the reason they invented bike helmets,” Martin said.

For toys that require batteries, every one comes with “a pair and a spare” — a phrase so crucial, Martin and Ploof say it in harmony.

Last month, after the SLVFD toy drive, a battery drive concert at the Harrietstown Town Hall was headlined by Frankie and the Moonlighters and brought in a bin full of batteries.

On Saturday, “elves” will lead parents around the gym to pick out their gifts.