More than a quarter million toys are needed to avert a blue Christmas for needy children this year, as the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program in Boston tries to stave off a crisis of soaring requests for help amid plummeting donations.

“We still have about 300,000 (toy requests for) children to help and we probably only helped about 5,000,” said Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Michael Kwiecinski, whose South Boston warehouse is nearly empty just two months into the toy drive.