The annual Christmas Toy Store event draws around 100 to 250 families and gives out between 800 and 1,200 toys each year.

Volunteers Christine Lingafelt (left) and Karen Winrick sort through donated clothes at the Altoona Rescue Mission Thrift Store on Wednesday morning. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow About 200 local ...

They started lining up outside in the cold, dark hours before dawn. It was an unusual gathering. There were Arabs and Poles and Bangladeshis and Ukrainians among them, each with their own ways and ...