After the local Toys for Tots program was unable to fill requests from some local charities, people lined up as early as 5 a.m. on Saturday outside a cold Strip District warehouse so their children would not be disappointed on Christmas.

Some people waited as long as four hours and walked away with white plastic bags containing toys, said Deb Hopkins, executive director of Pittsburgh Cares, a local non-profit that distributes toys to charities.

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Charles Brashear, the local Toys for Tots coordinator, said some charities that requested toys, such as Sisters Helping Sisters in Penn Hills or The Pittsburgh Project on the North Side, were not in the organization's computer system.

"We don't like turning people away but we have certain processes we have to follow," Sgt. Brashear said in an interview at the Strip District warehouse Saturday morning.

In two open houses, held Friday and Saturday, more than 10,000 toys were distributed to people, he said.

Local charities must register on the Toys For Tots website and receive a confirmation with a control number sent by email, Sgt. Brashear said.

Sisters Helping Sisters, a local non-profit in Penn Hills was not in the Toys For Tots computerized list of non-profits that had registered, he said.

Toys For Tots, he added, will make every effort to fill orders until Dec. 23 or until donations run out.

Toy donations are down from last year and demand is up, Sgt. Brashear said. The biggest donor, he said, is an initiative called Stuff-A- Bus by local radio station KISS-FM at 96.1 on the dial.

Last year, that effort stuffed toys into 47 school buses that hold 55 passengers. This year, Stuff A Bus filled 45 buses, Sgt. Brashear said. But last year was different because the local Toys For Tots chapter had 3,800 toys left over, Sgt. Brashear said.

Ms. Hopkins, of Pittsburgh Cares, said her organization contracts with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Goodfellows Toy Fund, and more than 500 volunteers, to help sort and distribute toys.

This year, more than 200 local charities requested toys.

In addition, Ms. Hopkins said, "The number of children connected to each order seemed larger,“ she said. "We had agencies pulling up and filling U-Hauls and vans.”

So many people were waiting in the cold, Ms. Hopkins said, that the Pittsburgh Pirates' charity gave her 100 wool Pirates hats to distribute.

​Kristine Bereznicki, a part-time bus driver from Baldwin Borough, was in line today and said she hoped to get toys for her five children, ages 1 1/2 , 5, 8, 11 and 13. She also requested a toy for her 11-year-old niece, who is staying with her. Ms. Bereznicki said her sister-in-law suffered a stroke last month and cannot walk or talk.

Six years ago, Deb Hopkins said, Pittsburgh Cares was asked to manage the 500 to 700 volunteers who begin working in early November to fill local charities' requests for toys.

Marines with the local Toys For Tots chapter accept applications from local charities and families and decide whether to approve them. Once a request is approved, Ms. Hopkins said, Pittsburgh Cares processes the paperwork and distributes the toys.

Pittsburgh Cares coordinates with local corporations to sign up volunteers for three-hour stints. Volunteers sort, manage and distribute toys or staff registration tables at open houses, Ms. Hopkins said.

Guardian Storage donates its warehouse each year to the local Toys For Tots program so that it has space to store and distribute toys, she added.

Toy requests are verified before they are approved, Sgt. Brashear said. Charities must supply a tax identification number to show that they are a legitimate not-for-profit organization. In addition, Toys For Tots verifies the names and addresses of children who receive gifts.

Sgt. Brashear said he was not familiar with Sisters Helping Sisters or The Pittsburgh Project and said that he does not recall seeing those organizations' on the list of charities that made online applications for toy distribution.

Lindsay Patross, a Shadyside woman who works in social media for a digital marketing company, joined the effort to get toys for kids. She used her skills in recent days to generate more than $7,500 in donations and buy or collect more than 1,400 toys for five local groups.

“It’s really the power of Pittsburgh. It’s not even 3 o’clock and I am more than confident that we are going to meet the need,” she said Saturday.

On Thursday, Ms. Patross learned from members of a Facebook group about the local nonprofits that would not receive toys from Toys For Tots.

Ms. Patross, who has been blogging for a decade at IHeartPgh.com, set up a Facebook group called Emergency Toy Drive and 60 people offered to help, including Heather Starr Fielder, who runs Play It Forward Pittsburgh, a local charity that distributes gently used toys.

Ms. Patross also sent a cargo van to Morgantown, W.Va., to pick up toys left over from a previous drive at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post. She learned of the toys’ availability on Facebook.

“You can’t rent a U-Haul box truck on the Saturday before Christmas. I’ve got a cargo van,” Ms. Patross said.

Ms. Patross worked with Nina and Jason Sauer, owners of Most Wanted Fine Art in Garfield, to coordinate toy collection and fundraising.

Sharon Fields, Democratic committeewoman for the 13th Ward and 17th District in the East Hills, said that earlier this week, “It was looking real gloomy around here. Today’s a whole new day, thank the Lord.”

Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1648

First Published: December 20, 2014, 8:25 p.m.