SKOWHEGAN -- Merry Christmas. Or not.

For more than 300 children in the Skowhegan area, the "not" looms large in the picture, as news arrived last week that the 1,000 toys usually donated by the National Toys for Tots Foundation program will not be coming.

Leisa Porter, the town's assistant assessor who helps organize the annual Skowhegan Christmas Giving Tree Program, said even though there is no Toys for Tots campaign district in Somerset County, the Skowhegan program has for many years been the beneficiary of many of the toys collected in Topsham by U.S. Marines.

"We used to get the spill-over," Porter said. "But we're not getting it this year. We're short 1,000 toys."

That means extra effort is necessary to maintain the program that, for at least 20 years, has been central to the town's Christmas giving for families that don't have the resources, Porter said.

The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation is a not-for-profit public charity and authorized fundraising arm for the Toys for Tots Program based in Quantico, Va., according to its Web site at www.toysfortotsmaine.org/InYourArea.htm.

Local coordinators in each state collect the toys for 647 campaigns nationwide and are responsible for getting the local communities involved, said Jennifer Gatlin, regional accounting specialist for 145 of the campaigns from Virginia to Maine. There are no campaign, or toy collection boxes in Somerset County.

The U.S. Marines of Alpha Company 1st Battalion, 25th Marines of Topsham, is the project coordinator for delivery and collection of donations boxes in Maine, according to information at www.toysfortotsmaine.com. Attempts to reach the spokesman in that office to see if collections are down this year were unsuccessful.

Porter, meanwhile, said she will continue to try to keep the giving tree program alive.

She collects applications for the program through word of mouth, teachers, school nurses and agencies such as Family Violence Project, assembling a list of recipients for children who otherwise would not get presents at Christmastime.

"We usually have 300-plus kids and try to give two to three gifts per kid," Porter said. She said Toys for Tots for many years has provided as many as two of those gifts per child.

Porter said she gives each application form and gift tag a code number to keep the names confidential.

Those gift tags, with the children's ages, sizes and Christmas wish lists, are picked up by business groups and townspeople.

The tags usually are hung on a tree at the office and employees pick one or more children to buy gifts for and return the gifts to the Town Office, where they are picked up by the recipients or the agencies who support them.

Some groups, such as the Redington-Fairview General Hospital, take as many as 75 tags for their tree in the lobby, others take 25 or 10 or as many as they believe they can find takers for, Porter said.

She said she also gets money donations: "Last year the Lions Club gave $400, the All Saints Church gave $200 and Skowhegan Rotary gave $100, plus I had personal donations from individuals," she said.

"I've got 200 applications already, and just today, I got some more," Porter said one day last week. "The deadline (was) Friday, Nov. 21, but someone always come trailing in after Thanksgiving."

Porter said if the current applications are any indication, the list of children to buy for will probably be longer this year than in previous years.

"There are few names I see every year, but there are names this year that I haven't seen before," she said. "There are families out there who have having a rougher year."

Porter said she also is struck by the basic needs on the wish list.

"The children are not asking for anything way over and above," she said. "Most are asking for practical items, such as boots, clothes, just simple stuff -- puzzles and crayons, drawing supplies, even school supplies. "

Darla L. Pickett -- 474-9534, Ext. 341

dpickett@centralmaine.com