NORFOLK, Neb.- Santa and his elves spend all year making toys at the North Pole leading up to Christmas night. The Norfolk Toys for Tots program accepts donated toys year-round in case St. Nick misses a house or two on his journey.

Jerod Neuhalfen became the Norfolk campaign coordinator for Toys for Tots in 2009, but one volunteer experience in 2006 made him realize he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

“My first year, what really sold me to stay involved with Toys for Tots,” Neuhalfen said, “was when I handed a young girl her family’s toys. She was there with her mom and was probably about 10. She says, ‘This means a lot to my family, not so much for myself, but I have little brothers and sisters, and my dad was diagnosed with cancer. It’s been a really hard year.’”

The program collects toy donations in cardboard boxes placed in businesses and shops starting in October and continues through December.

Neuhalfen says that since he took over as campaign coordinator, the growth and the need has more than doubled.

“When I took it over, we just did Madison County. Then we kept growing until we got to about six counties, and the core team that kind of runs it decided that was big enough, so we stopped there,” Neuhalfen said. “And we’ve grown, and they always meet the need and then some.”

Since expanding, Neuhalfen says he helps about 1,500 kids a year receive toys for Christmas. But he doesn’t do it alone—he gets help from his family and volunteers in the community.

“Myself and our team go out and pick the boxes up. Actually, it was yesterday when we picked them up for this year. We get the toys in and sort them out,” Neuhalfen said.

He says toys are already starting to be handed out, but he asks families to stay patient as more donations are still being sorted.