WATERVILLE -- The Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers has been overwhelmed with requests for help this month and has answered those calls, but it can do no more.

There's no more left to give.

Stephen Mayberry, development director at the center, based on Silver Street, said the charitable agency finished packing up 900 boxes of mittens, hats, books, toys and clothing for needy families throughout the state last week.

"Most of them will serve two families. We started taking calls on Nov. 3. They've been packing since the day we started. This is our biggest year ever, probably driven by the economy," Mayberry said.

"Requests were still coming in when he had to stop taking them," he said.

The Maine Children's Home filled a record 1,568 requests for gifts this year, compared to the old record of 1,425, set two years ago, he said.

As the agency's big packing effort neared its frantic end Tuesday, program director Cristen Sawyer pointed to the wall.

On it, framed in the colors of the season, is Sawyer's favorite quote: "Christmas is truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it the most."

In this case, that light goes to 1,568 Maine children who, without the work of the agency and its volunteers, might not have a very good Christmas. Families from northern Maine picked up their gift boxes at the facility on Elm Street on Wednesday, while those from southern Maine picked them up Thursday, at the Augusta Armory.

Sawyer, who refers to herself as "the Christmas lady," said she and her volunteers were exhausted.

"In the end, it's all about the children," Sawyer said. "We had 300 volunteers for the year, and a record number of new ones, because some had only their time to give. First-time volunteers almost always come back."

Mayberry said church and school groups, businesses and individuals donated the items in the boxes. Each box contained $150 to $200 worth of merchandise, he said.

Mayberry thanked Huhtamaki Packaging for the donated boxes, New Balance for the help it always provides, and many other businesses. He also praised fundraising efforts by radio station 107.9 FM The Mix, which maintained a storefront during the drive, on Kennedy Memorial Drive.

"They did a broadcast every morning, and people dropped off things," he said. "They reminded the public what is needed, and there was a ripple effect. It gets the Maine Children's Home name out there."

The Maine Children's Home also arranges adoptions, provides mental-health counseling and a teenage parent-school program, a 60-day day care center for young children, and a summer camp.

In any event, its Christmas mission is accomplished.

"It really is serving a need," Mayberry said. "You have got people who are severely, severely hurting out there."

Larry Grard -- 861-9239

lgrard@centralmaine.com