It has been a hard year economically for most people. But for those on the edge of poverty, it has been devastating.

Byron Laher, president of the Community Emergency Assistance Program (CEAP) in Brooklyn Park, said his food shelf has seen 25 to 45 percent jumps from 2007 in the number of families asking for food.

"What's really frightening is that we're seeing record numbers of people using the food shelf for the very first time," he said.

CEAP had to open a third pantry in Maple Grove this October to ease the strain on its Blaine and Brooklyn Park locations.

Against that kind of backdrop, organizers of holiday food and toy drives in the north metro area are gearing up to give away more turkeys, food baskets and toys this year than ever before -- even if the fundraising climate is difficult.

Organizers of Toys for Joy, an annual food and toy program in Anoka County, believe they'll be able to serve 5,000 kids and their families this holiday season, up from 4,200 in 2008. To raise the extra money, the North Metro Area Association of Realtors put on an additional fundraiser, a spaghetti dinner, and revamped other fundraising efforts to better suit a middle class that is also feeling the pinch.

"We switched our golf tournament to a more affordable course, we lowered our sponsorship levels, and we got rid of the splashy, big-ticket items at the silent auction, and added a lot more things in the $30, $40, and $50 range," said Mike Hunstad, a local real estate agent and a Toys for Joy committee chairman.

CEAP expects to hand out toys and baskets of food to 800 families on Dec. 16, up from 725 families in 2008. Laher said there weren't enough quality toys to go around last year from Toys for Tots, one of CEAP's partner organizations, so the organization is attempting its own toy drive through a network of some 20 churches in Anoka County.

As Laher spoke one day last week, food-shelf clients lined up in a narrow hallway, hoping to register for the Christmas program that promises a turkey, stuffing mix, gravy mix, canned vegetables and two toys for each child in a family. Down the hall, a cluster of volunteers stuffed huge stacks of white fundraising envelopes.

At the Southern Anoka County Assistance (SACA) office in Columbia Heights, program coordinator Rick Johnson sounded harried, as phones rang and rang in the background.

"We're absolutely swamped," he said, noting that he's received a large volume of calls from people who would like to use SACA's Christmas program but didn't know how to sign up or where the SACA office is located. "That's really telling, because people who have taken part in our Christmas program in the past know where we are."

For its own holiday program, SACA sent fundraising letters to 25 percent more businesses in the Anoka area. He said his organization will try to serve at least 800 families this year, and maybe as many as 1,000. In 2008, SACA gave out food, toys and gloves to roughly 700 families.

"This year is going to be a little worse for people, so we're trying to give it an extra push," Johnson said. "We've gotten in binds before, and whenever that's happened, the community has come through for us. I'm confident that will happen again this year."

Alyssa Ford is a Minneapolis writer.