MADISON — Sunday was supposed to be a day off for Ruth Scott and her Boone County Community Action colleagues.

But there they were that afternoon, lined up inside the Madison Civic Center, making sure hundreds of Boone County families received their Secret Santa Foundation gifts for Christmas.

“We don’t mind,” said Scott, the Boone County Community Action executive director who volunteers along with her staff. “It warms our hearts because we can help make these kids’ wishes come true at Christmas.”

This is the 24th year for the annual event.

“We started with about 25 bags and 250 kids,” Scott said.

More than 700 Boone County children received gifts this year, she said.

“We usually help more than 1,000 kids,” said Scott, whose office specializes in helping less-fortunate families with their needs. “We couldn’t do it without volunteers.”

Dozens of volunteers helped Sunday, when parents came to pick up their kids’ presents.

They were arranged in a single-file line from the truck through the arena and they passed bags of items from one person to the next like an assembly line.

The volunteers included representatives from the Madison-Danville Jaycees, Danville Volunteer Fire Department, Madison Volunteer Fire Department, AmeriCorps, 4-H and Boy Scouts of America (troops 289 and 392), among other organizations.

“It makes me feel good to help these kids,” said Daniel Johnson, a Madison Volunteer Fire Department member who volunteered Sunday. “I like seeing them happy during the holidays.”

Volunteers unloaded a trio of tractor-trailers trucks full of bags of presents that afternoon.

The bags were arranged numerically on the civic center floor. Once everything was unloaded, volunteers were divided into two groups — runners and checkers — and got the gifts for the parents.

In addition to the hundreds of piles of gifts on the arena floor, a line of bicycles — 235 all together — stretched from one end of the civic center to the other.

“A lot of kids will be happy on Christmas morning,” Scott said.

Here is how the Secret Santa process works, in case anyone wants to apply next year.

Boone County Community Action bookkeeper Kathy Carney attends a Secret Santa Foundation meeting in August to pick up applications and materials for the upcoming holiday season.

She typically takes applications from the first week of September through the first week of November.

Carney reviews the applications and sends the approved ones to the Christmas Bureau, which is part of United Way. Christmas Bureau officials then send forms to the applicants to put down the toys their children want and the sizes their children wear.

Christmas Bureau officials enter the information into their database, then send it to Secret Santa Foundation officials, who find sponsors — either businesses or individuals — for each child.

“Those groups work hand in hand,” Scott said.

Scott said parents receive a card in the mail that tells them the date and time to pick up their kids’ gifts at the Madison Civic Center, which city officials let the Boone County Community Action use free of charge.

“Anyone can apply as long as they have children who are 12 years or younger,” Carney said. “They have to meet an income criteria to be approved. Any amount of food stamps automatically qualifies an applicant. They have to come into the office to pick up the application.”

The Boone County Community Action office is located at 347 Kenmore Drive in Lick Creek. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Call 369-0451 for more information.

Contact Managing Editor Jacob Messer at HYPERLINK "mailto:jacobmesser@coalvalleynews.com" jacobmesser@coalvalleynews.com or 369-1165.