This weekend was buzzing with volunteers who wrapped presents and sorted through mounds of toys and gifts to match up a gift for every resident with a need for help in Refugio County.

While Woodsboro students wrapped gifts for Toys for Tots at the First Baptist Church Activities Center, volunteers with S.N.O.W. assembled baskets and gifts at Brown Plumbing. The groups had different gifts but the same goal.

“Christmas is love,” said Kim Blackwell, who heads up the S.N.O.W. group.

Someone Needs Our Warmth, known as S.N.O.W., has not missed a Christmas since 1991. The number of families change each year but the need remains great.

This year 70 families will receive gifts and a food basket through S.N.O.W. Some years, there have been up to 85 who require help.

“This year, the economic times are tough but we’re all in the same boat,” said Kim Blackwell.

Kim and her mother, Pat Blackwell, have been with S.N.O.W. since it was formed by Karen Willoughby. Willoughby has since moved away but S.N.O.W. continues.

“Some things have changed,” Pat Blackwell says. “There are less people giving high-ticket items but more people donating through groups.”

“If we can’t provide something, we’ll find a group that can,” Kim says. “It’s never easy and at the end of every Christmas season, we say this is the last year but in June, we start gearing up again. It’s hard to think that I’ll still be doing this when I get to be my Mom’s age.”

Some of the churches and the hospital adopted families to help.

The Marine Corps added Woodsboro to its Toys for Tots program this year. The effort was coordinated by Sylvia Castellano though her employer, Robbins-Gioia, LLC, at Corpus Christi Army Depot. Castellano has been with Toys for Tots since 2005. Through their efforts, 17 bicycles and 432 toys were delivered to Woodsboro.

“This is the season for giving and for sharing,” said Mayor George Hernandez. “The spirit of Christmas changes everybody. It’s very rewarding and satisfying. The kids did an exemplary job today.”