More than 300 children connected with Naval Air Station Whidbey Island had a warm Christmas thanks to the generosity of the local community.

The local chapter of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society led an effort to collect gifts for children of sailors who needed a boost during the holiday season.

Senior command leadership nominated sailors they thought could benefit from the program. Families were asked to complete an application with information about the age, gender, interests, clothing size and needs of each child. Ornaments with the children’s wishes were placed on trees at the Navy Exchange and the Naval Hospital.

The identity of the families receiving gifts remains private, but most are either young, junior enlisted sailors or enlisted sailors further along in their careers with large families, said Debbie Karney, a volunteer who organized the event.

Most of the children are 6 years or younger, although they also had some hard-to -shop-for older teens. Only children receive gifts.

“During the holiday, money is tight for everyone,” she said. “It’s nice to see people take the money and spend it on those who are less fortunate.”

Many people were incredibly generous, she said. They pulled tags off the tree and did more than just buy the few things on the list but went further, adding extra clothes and goodies they thought the children might enjoy, she said.

She saw parents brought to tears when they showed up to pick up the gifts.

The nonprofit organized the gifts for each family into boxes.

In total, the nonprofit sent out hundreds of gifts — five or six per child.

They had help from Toys for Tots, which opened up its storage warehouse to provide hundreds of board games, dolls, cars, balls and even a few bikes. In cases where one child in a family received more donations than another, the nonprofit used Toys for Tots resources to make sure children from the same family received equitable gifts. In one family, two siblings each received a Kindle.

Columbia Distributing, which does business with the Navy Exchange, stepped up with a $5,000 donation, which was used to purchase gift cards to the Exchange for families.

“This year, 143 military families benefited from this program, and the NMCRS Whidbey Island office would like to thank everyone who participated in making the holidays happy for our military children,” she said.