MOULTRIE, Ga. — Angie Kling knows it sounds backwards.

Kling, director for the Children’s Cheer and Toy Shop, said Wednesday the shop is in the best shape it’s ever been with new toys, thanks to fundraisers throughout the year by its board of directors and donations from many in the community.

But its shelves of “gently used” toys are relatively bare.

The Cheer and Toy Shop is a year-round project for the school social workers of Colquitt County, but everyone else notices when the shop gets ready for Christmas. They served just short of 1,800 children last year. It was almost 1,900 the year before.

Kling, social worker at Sunset Elementary School, said monetary donations and fundraisers allow her to purchase many new toys through an online distributor that charges less than retail stores. Those items are divided by gender and age group, and they’re bagged up with each bag being worth about $17-20. Sometimes that could be only one or two toys, she said.

Parents can get applications from school social workers or their partners in the community, and they’re due back to the school social workers by mid-October. This helps the social workers to plan for how many bags they’ll need.

On distribution day, which this year will be Dec. 11, parents line up to get toys for their children.

“I’ve had families at the front of the line tell me they started lining up at 3 in the morning,” Kling said. “We don’t open until 8.”

The parents fill out a registration form that includes the child’s age and gender. A runner takes the form to the new toys room, where volunteers get together the bag of new toys.

Meanwhile, other volunteers escort the parents through the used toys room, where they can take one used toy per child.

Those are the toys Kling hopes people can donate this month to fill the shelves.

Organizers urge the donors to clean up the toys and put in new batteries, but if not, there’s another room at the shop where volunteers do what they can.

Donations can be made to any school social worker or at a drop-off box at the Cheer and Toy Shop, located in the former National Guard armory on Industrial Drive.

A number of groups volunteer at the shop, either organizing toys or cleaning them or helping out on the day of distribution. Church groups, sports teams, and several clubs at the high school lend a hand, along with individuals.

The used toys presented an opportunity this year for a mother and son to pitch in. Lisa and Mason Kenney are sewing clothes for the used dolls that are donated.

“We’ve got a lot of naked babies, a lot of naked Barbies,” Kling said.

Lisa Kenney said Kling had told her about the need for doll clothes in early September, and she mentioned it to her son, who’s a senior at Colquitt County High School.

“It was my son’s idea,” she said. “I had taught him to sew at a young age, and he said, ‘We can do that.’”

But with less than a month until distribution, the Kenneys are asking for help. Their goal was 200 outfits before distribution day, and they’re at about 120.

“We’re just not going to have enough time to make enough clothes before they need to distribute,” Lisa Kenney said.

She said the Kiwanis Club of Moultrie has agreed to take up donations to buy new clothes for the dolls, but she hopes others will join the effort too.

For more information, contact the school social workers at any of the Colquitt County Schools.