FERRIDAY — On Christmas Eve, just the thought of presents-to-come may keep children wide-eyed late into the night, but Friday afternoon volunteers worked hurriedly to make sure that some of Concordia Parish’s least fortunate children can share in that experience.

The Concordia Christmas Charity Fund’s volunteers, flanked by helpers from Ferriday High School’s Future Business Leaders of America, the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and parish inmates, had a workday at FHS to prepare for today’s toy distribution.

The distribution is from 8 to 11 a.m.

This year, the fund will serve at least 255 people, Dorothy Parker, a fund coordinator, said.

Approximately 300 bags were prepared for distribution.

“We reached our $12,000 goal,” she said. “The community always comes through.”

The fund did not raise as much as last year, but that’s OK, Parker said.

“We didn’t have as many applicants,” she said.

The goal of the fund, started in 1988, is to help provide Christmas toys for children whose families cannot afford them.

The fund will also distribute food collected at the Ferriday schools, Huntington School and Ridgecrest Elementary School, Parker said.

Vidalian Tommy Massey, who along with Parker has worked with the fund for approximately 10 years, said he first got involved with it because he wanted to do something for the community.

“I always felt like it was a worthy cause, doing something for the less fortunate people,” he said.

Working with the distribution is its own reward, Massey said.

“You don’t have a lot of direct contact with the children, but just seeing the looks of appreciation on people’s faces is what I look forward to,” he said. “I have always enjoyed doing it, and I don’t mind at all giving my time to it.”

The Ferriday Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Concordia Christmas Charity Fund.