Not having enough elves in Santa’s workshop this year may leave the area under Christmas trees barren for some kids.

The Denver-area Toys for Tots program has only been able to distribute 10,000 toys as of Tuesday, far from the more than 100,000 toy requests it’s received from non-profits, said Staff Sgt. Jon Kilpela, coordinator of the Aurora program that oversees seven Colorado counties.

“The community still seems really involved and everybody seems really geared toward making this program succeed,” Kilpela said. “We just need more toys.”

Toys for Tots is a 69-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Reserve charitable program that provides toys to disadvantaged children. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and local Marines have bought some toys but Kilpela said the organization “can’t do it without the support of the community. It will always be community driven.”

Last year, Toys for Tots received roughly 5,000 toys by Oct. 31. It didn’t hit that number until December this year, Kilpela said. At the same time, requests have increased.

In comparison, last year the program was hunting for affordable warehouse space to store gifts. The year before that, the program gave toys to nearly 90,000 kids in the Denver area. But in 2013, the program was 20,000-30,000 toys short a week before Christmas.

“All the events coming around this year, they’ve been great,” Kilpela said. “But they just haven’t been bringing in toys like they did last year.”

Nationally, Toys for Tots donations have increased, according to U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve spokeswoman Master Sgt. Katesha Washington. Although she added that donations vary among the 152 individual sites across the U.S.

The Pueblo Toys for Tots drive has also seen greater demand as 750 families requested toys but unlike the Denver-area drive, it received more than double the toys needed, coordinator Freddie Gallegos said.

A Precious Child, another local nonprofit that sponsors a toy drive in the Denver-area, had to max out requests at 7,400 gifts, which is 400 more than last year, program coordinator Courtney Wickberg said. But the drive has been able to provide all of the gifts promised.

Kilpela didn’t know why donations have been down and couldn’t give a definitive number for how many requests will be denied because donations are still trickling in from drop-off boxes.

“There are a lot of needs throughout the nonprofit community so really all the nonprofits are feeling the pinch,” said Barbara Berv, vice president of philanthropic services for the Denver Foundation.

The 91-year-old foundation helps people make charitable decisions through funds set up with the organization.

Berv couldn’t say that all nonprofits were hurting but she said it was a common theme. There’s never a single factor as to why fewer people donate but she said a struggling oil industry has been hurting a lot of Coloradans economically.

“People are very, very generous and if they are not giving, it is not because they’re not generous, it’s because there’s more economic hardship,” she said, adding that people still tend to do informal philanthropy by helping neighbors or family members.

As for now, Toys for Tots is warning the more than 300 non-profits and schools that asked for toys that they may need to start looking for other donors, which is easier said than done.

The Epworth Foundation, which Toys for Tots gave 1,000 gifts, is one of the few nonprofits that received toys, spokeswoman LJ Harker said. She said the foundation has received calls from multiple school social workers searching for toys.

“I’m sending out frantic e-mails with everyone we partner with to see what we can do,” Harker said.

Those interested in donating can go to the program’s warehouse at 3410 Brighton Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. But the warehouse may open later on particularly cold days because it lacks heat. Potential donors can also make a donation online at aurora-co.toysfortots.org.

Toys for Tots prefers for donations to be in by Dec. 22 so the gifts can be distributed in time, Kilpela said.