The loss of a longtime program that served Lincoln County families at Christmas has led to plans for CLC YMCA in Damariscotta to start one in 2016.

Looking for ways to meet the community’s needs, and then meeting them, is what CLC YMCA does, through partnerships like the new one forming with Toys for Tots, CLC YMCA’s marketing and membership director Tammy Legault said Dec. 11.

The Y helps food pantries and organizes other efforts that involve volunteers, so the program to collect presents and give them out will be another use of those abilities, Legault said.

“We’re pretty good at putting these things together,” she said. “This is one more great thing we’re doing for the community.”

For years, Toys for Tots has helped collect toys for a program called Family Holiday Wishes that served families in need in Lincoln County. In addition to the toys, Family Holiday Wishes also collected and gave out gifts of clothes and other items people bought based on tags from wish trees around the county.

In an email response to questions from the Wiscasset Newspaper on Dec. 13, Family Holiday Wishes’ founder Cynthia Simonds states that her retirement at the end of last season led the advisory board to discontinue the program. “(It) no longer exists in any way, shape or form.”

If CLC YMCA starts a new holiday assistance program, that would be wonderful, Simonds continues. “I’d be happy to be a sounding board for them as they make their plans going forward.”

Reflecting on the program that she started, Simonds writes: “(The) men and women who joined together at this time of year, when everyone feels busy, shared their most precious gift. Their dedication, their time, was gratefully welcomed and happily directed to create an effort that blossomed larger than the sum of its parts. Folks want to help local families, and we helped connect the dots for 13 years.

“I have every confidence that Toys for Tots will fulfill the needs of Lincoln County families, keeping the Christmas magic alive for the wonderful little boys and girls on Santa's list,” Simonds writes.

When Family Holiday Wishes disbanded, Toys for Tots found another person to help in Lincoln County, but then he couldn’t do it, due to a family illness, Knox, Waldo and Lincoln County Toys for Tots coordinator Joan Vargas said.

However, Lincoln County families have still been able to get toys this year through Toys for Tots, by contacting the organization directly, Vargas said Friday.

The partnership with CLC YMCA beginning in 2016 will base the Lincoln County program locally again; the Y’s program will serve families in all of Lincoln County with Toys for Tots’ toys and donations of other gifts, just as Family Holiday Wishes did, according to Vargas and Legault.

Amanda Gray, a staff member in the Y’s after-school program, will travel to a conference in Virginia for training to become a Toys for Tots representative for Lincoln County, Legault said.

“I think we’re going to rock it next year,” Legault said about the program.

Plans call for it to carry CLC YMCA’s name and use “Holiday Wishes” in the title, which will also note Toys for Tots’ sponsorship and one sponsorship yet to be determined. That will be whoever provides the space where the gifts are housed and organized, Legault said. Close to the Y would be good; however, the Y is open to offers elsewhere in the county, she said.

The space must be dry and available for storage year-round, Vargas said.

To offer a space or to ask about volunteering for the program, contact Legault at CLC YMCA, at 207-563-3477. For more on Toys for Tots, including how to volunteer, visit www.toysfortots.org.