Co-chairs Barbara Burtchell and Honey Mondress said the gratitude and thankfulness each family expressed was reward enough for their work.
The Kiwanis Club has coordinated this event the past 10 years.
Judy Morales at the Temple HELP Center conducted a screening of families in need of food, clothing or gifts. If the family needed toys for their children, their applications were given to the Santa Pal project, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.
The number of children who received gifts this year declined from 386 to about 320.
Each of the 50 Kiwanis members chose a family to sponsor and took their wish-lists to Wal-Mart to purchase toys for each child, based on what they requested. Other people, such as staff from the Ralph Wilson Girls Center and the Key Club at Temple High School, helped to shop for the children.
This year, several of the children said they wanted bikes for Christmas. Because the spending limit for each child is only $30, Kiwanis benefactor John King made a donation large enough to provide each child with a bike for Christmas.
Mrs. Burtchell said families ranged in size, from one to six children each. She said several of the mothers who picked up the toys for their children began to cry at the amount of generosity the sponsors showed them.
The Kiwanis Club volunteers will have another pickup date before Christmas. It will be 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 2423 W. Adams Ave. for any family who did not receive their items on Saturday.
If there are any toys left over, the Kiwanis Club will donate them to another local charity.