Thirty-five families with a total of 95 children applied to Wiscasset’s first Adopt-A-Family program for the holiday season, town staff said.

Administrative Assistant Kathy Onorato wasn’t sure what to expect for a response and, a few days before the cutoff, 10 families had applied. Twenty-five others followed.

“I think that the need is there, and it was a good response,” she said. “I’m very happy.”

Onorato and Selectmen’s Vice Chairman Judy Flanagan were placing wish tags on a decorated tree at the municipal building Dec. 10. The effort to fulfill the wishes got a head start from money that businesses, groups and residents donated, Flanagan and Onorato said.

In addition, the industries program at Two Bridges Regional Jail has donated many items.

Wiscasset is a community that gives, Flanagan said. “And it’s not just this season. It’s anything, any time of year. The residents help. I’m impressed,” she added.

The generosity the community has already shown with this year’s Adopt-A-Family program helped inspire a message of thanks posted on a door in the municipal building hallway, Flanagan said. It reads: “’Tis the season of giving ... and the Select Board would like to thank all the folks that give so much to this community. Thank you.”

Flanagan, Onorato, Town Manager Marian Anderson, retired Wiscasset Assessor’s Agent Sue Varney, and residents Sandra Shea and Nancy Roby worked quickly to organize the program after Onorato learned in an email that Family Holiday Wishes, which had long run a similar program, had been folded into the Toy for Tots program.

The email from Family Holiday Wishes’ former organizer Cynthia Simonds explained that families could contact Toys for Tots. But Onorato said she and others wanted to do something that would also cover gifts other than toys.

This year the Wiscasset program was open only to local families; however, in the future, with more time to plan and carry out the effort, it could expand to include families in other towns with children in Wiscasset schools, Onorato said.

The Wiscasset Newspaper later learned that, in 2016, CLC YMCA in Damariscotta plans to pick up where Family Holiday WIshes left off, serving Lincoln County with the help of Toys for Tots.

Flanagan said she was glad to hear that, because the prior program was a valuable one. Asked if the availability of the Y program might affect whether the town’s Adopt-A-Family program continues in 2016, she said that is something that will need to be discussed.

Anyone can get a wish tag from the town office tree or ones at Wiscasset Community Center and Ames Supply through Friday, Dec. 18, when the gifts that fulfill the wishes are due into any of the three locations. They should be turned in unwrapped, with the wish tag attached, Onorato said.