Volunteers inside a Fresno County warehouse are working around the clock distributing donated toys to children here in the Valley.
"I really want classify this year as a success. Maybe not exactly where I wanted to be but overall it's going to be a good Christmas for a lot of children out there," said Toys for Tots coordinator Marine Staff Sergeant William Cardinal.
Staff Sergeant Cardinal said they will fall short roughly 45-thousand toys this year. Their goal is 120,000.
Cardinal admits things would have been a lot worse in Fresno County if not for a late surge in donations from the community. "We're seeing it. It's the boxes that were out in the stores that are coming in full. And I'm not just getting one box, I'm getting five boxes or four boxes. That really, that last push from the community has been outstanding."
Valley churches and charity organizations stopped by all day to collect the toys. Doctor Jean Marie Caris-Mcmanus works for a social services center in Huron -- which is one of the poorest towns here in the Valley. She expressed gratitude while picking up the toys Monday. "We asked for a 1,000 toys and we'll get 400 so there will be disappointed children. But there will also be very happy children for the 400 that we get. So we're very excited and we're very grateful for people's donations. This is very, very important for our community."
The warehouse will be completely empty by Tuesday night -- leaving volunteers satisfied with their hard work. "It's nice to see that these children are going to get something nice this Christmas you know," said volunteer James Walton.
