Try imagining Santa Claus without the North Pole workshop.

Well, that's the situation Kootenai County Toys for Tots is in.

The local nonprofit is in dire and immediate need of indoor space to accomplish its mission this holiday season, according to Mike Milligan.

"If we don't have that space, there just won't be any Toys for Tots. That's what it boils down to," said Milligan, coordinator of the Pappy Boyington Marine Corps League Detachment that organizes the local Toys for Tots.

The program hasn't been able to find a location to collect and distribute toy donations, Milligan said. It also needs space for volunteers to accept applications from low-income families, who look to Toys for Tots to help fill the space under their trees.

"We need (space) quickly, as soon as possible, so we can get the word out," Milligan said.

For the past four years, Toys for Tots has performed its function at a vacant retail space provided free at the Village at Riverstone.

But that space has recently been purchased, Milligan said, and is no longer available for the nonprofit.

The other Riverstone vacancies aren't big enough, he said.

"We have had to look elsewhere," Milligan said, adding that the program has also outgrown its previous locale at the Post Falls National Guard Armory. "So far, we haven't met with any success."

He is asking for the community to step up and help, either by providing or helping find a space.

The program requires a 5,000-square-foot warehouse with heat and light, Milligan said, to allow for roughly 50 tables to sort toys by age and gender.

"It has to be a fairly large space," he said.

Also needed is a roughly 700-square-foot space where parents can apply for Toys for Tots.

"It's nice if the distribution center and the request center can be co-located, but it's not mandatory," Milligan said.

Donated space will qualify for a tax deduction, he noted.

The program needs to move in by mid November, Milligan added, to set up shop and the get the word out about where people can sign up and receive donations.

"We have the toys," Milligan said. "We can do it, if we have the place to do it."

The program provides free Christmas gifts for low-income families across Kootenai County and St. Maries.

Last year, Kootenai County Toys for Tots gave new toys and books to 2,645 children.

The nonprofit is expecting demand to jump 8 to 12 percent this year, Milligan said.

"Unemployment here in the county hasn't decreased," he said. "People are suffering with prices going up and wages staying stagnant, going down or not having wages at all."

A couple new toys can make all the difference for kids during tough times, Milligan said.

Imagine if there's no space for Toys for Tots, and thus, no gifts.

"That's going to be a lot of kids who will not have Christmas at all," he said.

To help, contact Milligan at 665-2393, or at milliganmk@yahoo.com.