It’s not too late to donate food, books, toys or your time this holiday season. Following is a list of charities that will be thrilled to receive your donations. The smallest gift can make the biggest difference to a child’s or family’s holiday. If you don’t live in the Bay Area, check these websites for online donations.

Sacred Heart Community Service in San Jose needs donations by Friday 12/20/2013. According to a San Jose Mercury News article, the charity is running low on toys and books for low-income children. To put into perspective how many children they serve for Christmas, they’re short 9,000 toys and books!

This article from KTVU has a comprehensive list of charities broken down by Bay Area counties. Some of the charities make it easy to donate online. The Family Giving Tree has a donation page that allows you to donate money that will go toward fulfilling children’s specific gift wishes.

Here in Santa Cruz County, we have a Toys for Tots organization with drop-off sites in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Watsonville and Corralitos/Pajaro Dunes. All the donations go to local kids, and the charity is especially in need of gifts for girls ages 10-14, books for early readers, Spanish/English books, batteries and bike helmets. Check out this website for other Toys for Tots locations throughout the country and where you can also make a donation online.

The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz does a wonderful job of providing help to those in need year round, and they have holiday programs in need of volunteers who can help provide food and gifts to low-income families.

I imagine for most of us, no matter how much we may be struggling financially, there’s someone struggling even more. ‘Tis the season to make that someone’s holiday bright!

I wish you all a very merry celebration of the season, a happy new year, and a fabulous 2014!