Social media saves Saugus Christmas

SAUGUS ? There was a modern-day Christmas miracle in Saugus over the weekend, but it didn’t start out that way.It began as anything but a miracle last Friday when the founder of the “We Care” program, a nonprofit group in Saugus, tried to contact a potential donor for its holiday toy drive.”The person I spoke to said they ran out of toys,” said Alison Riley, the founder of “We Care.””Then,” she said, “I found out that the individual who offered the donations did not have the authority to do so.”News of the organization’s predicament was posted on Facebook early Friday, telling about the families in need and what “We Care” was going through as a result of the donation falling through.The story went viral, Riley said, and immediately the organization began to receive all sorts of donations from toys, to money and even supplies such as wrapping paper, tape, gift bags and more from other organization members and many other charitable organizations.”Aside from the issues the town might be facing, many came together to look at the bigger issue at hand, helping the children of the community,” Riley said, adding that the organization received “hundreds and hundreds” of gifts.They were dropped off at the Saugus Youth and Recreation Center, where a room was filled with toys as volunteers came by to help wrap, sort and distribute the presents.It was important for “We Care” to receive these donations because they had a lot of families in need, Riley said.So far the group has delivered gifts to “a dozen” families on Sunday and are preparing to drop more off on today, she said. “We Care” will distribute the gifts up until Christmas Eve, she said.”We Care” was started in October 2012 after members wanted to bring awareness to social issues such as heroin overdoses that had been plaguing their community.