UPSTATE NEW YORK -- There's a continued effort to ensure more children will open a gift this Christmas. The Hillside Family of Agencies is trying to do all it can to make that possible through its Special Santas campaign.

So far so good, but local officials I spoke to say with a week left in the campaign there's still plenty of gift requests out there. They say with your support many more children will be able to enjoy Christmas.

Hillside plans on distributing gifts to more than 1,600 children in need in the Syracuse area alone. The Conference Center at Drivers Village in Cicero is one of four locations where you can find a Hillside Special Santa's tree. On that tree you'll find requests from children like sweatshirts, games, and CD's. Officials with Driver's Village say so far the support from the community has been great.

"Gifts have been coming in. We've got until the 17th so if there's some folks out there that want to come in and buy a gift for someone in the Hillside program, they can come in and do that. It would be a great gesture on their part," said Driver's Village President Roger Burdick.

In addition to Driver's Village you can find gift locations at Carousel Center as well as Regal Cinemas at Carousel, Shoppingtown or Great Northern Mall.

If you'd like to make a donation, you can do it online as well. Just visit hillside.com and follow the reindeer.