On Thursday, my fellow Evening Sun staffer Tyler Murphy and I trekked across town to the Toys for Tots distribution center on South Broad Street. As I mentioned in last week’s column, I was really looking forward to pitching in for a couple of hours to help this amazing cause, which makes sure local children don’t go without during the holidays.

The local program, which is affiliated with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, is a collaborative effort: the Label Gallery and former Marine Reservist Roger Barnhart coordinate the local toy drive, while Roots and Wings oversees the sorting and distribution of the toys collected.

As we walked from our office on Lackawanna Ave to the Toys for Tots location in the old Salvation Army store, I filled Tyler in on my experience sorting toys for the local non-profit last year with one of our other colleagues, Brian Golden. It had been Brian’s first day with the paper – the anniversary of which he’ll celebrate tomorrow, by the way.

On that day, Brian and I had both been amazed by the volume of new, unwrapped toys which had been donated (and/or purchased with donations), all destined to end up under the trees of local children whose families might not otherwise have been able to afford to buy them presents. We had gotten to play Santa’s helpers, selecting gifts for each child based on the wish lists created by their parents. The whole experience had really touched my heart.

But this year, when Tyler and I walked in the door at 19 S. Broad, there were no big piles of toys. The tables, which last year were heaped with items sorted by age and gender preferences, held only a sparse assortment.

Roots and Wings Director Melinda Mandeville, whose organization handles the sorting and distribution of the toys for the local Toys for Tots program, confirmed our worst fears. Donations are down this year, even though the need is as great as ever.

And consider this: According to Melinda, sign ups for the program are on the par with last year, which was record setting for the local group. In 2009, they distributed a total of 6,819 toys to 2,066 local children. That was a substantial jump from the previous year when they provided 5,534 toys to 1,651 children.