With Christmas less than a week away, the Salvation Army in Saint John is issuing an urgent plea for toys.

The organization says the cutoff date for people to register for help was Dec. 5, but it has been flooded with calls from people in need, and they simply don’t have enough to meet the demand.

“We don’t want to turn people away,” says Maj. Lori Pinksen. “We already had anticipated some late registrations because that happens every year, but this has been the most in a lot of years.”

There were 415 families on the list on Dec. 5, but that number has grown by almost 150.

The Salvation Army organizes bags of toys for families of children aged 17 and younger. They say the greatest need right now is toys for children of all ages, especially for teenagers and babies two years and younger.

Maj. Danny Pinksen says they have asked all those who registered late to come to the Salvation Army on Monday.

“We’re going to be doing things on the fly, filling toy bags and turkeys, so we’ll have people ready to go in whatever direction they go to meet the needs,” he says.

The Pinksens hope their community will continue their spirit of giving so they can meet the increased demand this holiday season.