“Evvy Brumback, left, stuffs a bear into a bag of toys destined to go under the tree of one of 160 needy South Whidbey families, while Edith Goetz packs other gifts from the toy shelves at Langley’s Good Cheer.Matt Johnson/staff photoMatt Johnson, staff photoHundreds of South Whidbey and Puget Sound area children woke up to a Christmas Day Monday that was much better than they thought it would be. It’s a good thing Santa is in the franchise business.Working in ways that the jolly old elf would certainly approve of, scores of South Whidbey elves had been collecting toys for weeks, toys for families that could not afford to purchase them. It was a volunteer effort that involved students, adults and whole South Whidbey families.Langley Middle School sixth grader Katy Gordon was one of those helpful elves. She donated a scooter to a toy drive at her school. Toys, she said, are what makes Christmas Christmas for most kids.Kids don’t get Christmas presents like that. They usually get clothes, Gordon said. I felt bad for them.Gordon and all the other Santa’s helpers at Langley Middle School did what they could to make certain no children would have to wake up Christmas morning without presents. Following up the school’s successful Thanksgiving food drive, the students gathered new toys and warm coats, hats and mittens to give to local charities, which in turn are distributing them to families for the holiday. Collecting toys, often an afterthought in the midst of holiday food and clothing drives, has been a big deal at the school. For the fifth year in a row, the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders led by teacher Jack Terhar collected hundreds of toys to take to the Salvation Army Toy Barn in Seattle. Gordon said students who earn extra credit at school could travel to the barn and help decorate it for this weekend’s toy distribution.The biggest toy donation outlet on South Whidbey, Langley’s Good Cheer, spent weeks collecting toys for more than 160 families. As in past years, the charity placed Christmas trees in South Whidbey’s US Bank, InterWest Bank, Washington Mutual and Whidbey Island banks, from whose branches bank patrons could pluck gift sponsorship ornaments. On each ornament was information about a family that needed children’s Christmas presents. The information was general, saying little more than that a particular family might need presents for a 10-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.Good Cheer manager Brenda Thorn said the ornament campaign worked well this year, bringing in plenty of toys for all the children on the charity’s list. Once the toys were at Good Cheer, it was up to the elves to get them into big black garbage bags for each family. Elf Edith Goetz was in Good Cheer’s toy-sorting room the week before Christmas for her fourth toy drive in a row. She said putting the toys into garbage bags makes it easier for parents to sneak the toys into their homes without the children knowing what is inside. That makes the surprise on Christmas morning all the better.Good Cheer will also provide more than 200 families with holiday meals.Members of the South Whidbey Fire and EMS Association took a more focused approach to charitable gift giving this year. The association purchased about $700 in gifts for a family that lost all its possessions in a Freeland house fire earlier this year. Association member Andy Campbell said the association wants to help a few families like this one every year, families who have continuing hardships due to a traumatic event.Formed in August, the association had a small amount of funds available for this holiday season. Campbell said there will be more money in coming years.It’s going to be a good thing when it gets going, he said.To make donations to the association, send checks to P.O. Box 162, Clinton 98236, or call Fire Protection District 3 at 321-1533. “