The Suffolk News-Herald office has been particularly busy this week.

In addition to the regular traffic of folks stopping in to pick up newspapers and magazines, folks dropping by to buy classified ads and memorials, folks with news tips and advertising needs, this week, we have seen a steady stream of people stopping by to make donations to the Cheer Fund.

We could not be more grateful.

The Cheer Fund was launched sometime during the Great Depression — nobody is quite sure exactly when — as a way to raise money to buy clothes and food for the indigent. Through the years, the focus changed to funding the purchase of toys for underprivileged children, and that’s what it still does today.

Every dollar contributed to the effort goes toward buying toys for Suffolk’s Toys for Tots program, which is administered by the Salvation Army in Suffolk. That organization held its annual Christmas toy shopping event for hundreds of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles on Monday and Tuesday.

The shopping might be done, but the expenses still must be met. This year’s toy bill clocked in at more than $30,000. And every penny of that total has come from the generous donations of people, businesses and philanthropic organizations here in this city.

Again, we hardly know how to say thank you to all those generous people.

The need is still great, and there’s still plenty of time to contribute.

Cheer Fund donations are printed in the Suffolk News-Herald and can be made in honor of or in memory of a loved one. The donor can be listed anonymously if he chooses. The donor can also have his photograph taken giving the check to be published in the newspaper.

Donations for the Cheer Fund are accepted year-round. To give, write a check payable to the Cheer Fund and mail it to P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439, or stop by our office at 130 S. Saratoga St. Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Online giving is also available. To give using a credit or debit card or your PayPal account, click “Donate Here” at the top of our home page, www.suffolknewsherald.com.