At 'Aikahi Elementary School, students are filling laundry baskets with donated items to help others.

At Olivet Baptist Church in Makiki, members are fulfilling wish lists for 38 families who struggle to make ends meet, let alone find money for holiday extras.

Two couples are making donations rather than exchanging gifts. Kaiser Permanente for the first time is adopting a family. Kailua's Castle Medical Center is adopting 10 families and United Airlines three. And a man donated his 1997 Buick to a family that needed a vehicle after their van was repossessed.

So even though donations to The Advertiser's Christmas Fund are down this year, those who have donated or helped in other ways are ensuring that many families will have a merrier Christmas.

People are giving despite an economy dominated by layoffs, stock market losses and flagging consumer confidence.

The reason is simple.

"I had to help someone," said Jeff Yamashita, a Waipahu resident. "I was touched by the family I read about in The Honolulu Advertiser, and I gave them my car. I was using it to go to work, but I have two other cars."

This year Helping Hands Hawai'i has 130 families who need adopting. Each year the agency teams with media partners to raise money that's used all year round to help families cope with unexpected hardships and to put food on the table.

After Aloha Airlines closed, the agency stepped forward and helped many families with a special Neighbors in Need fund.

"It's been a very tough year, and the number of families seeking help for Christmas is much higher than we've seen before," said Scott Morishige, Helping Hands' program manager. "However, we are confident that all of the families referred to us will receive Christmas gifts this year."

To date, the Christmas fund has raised $51,853.24. The fund raised $254,000 last year and $215,000 in 2006. Donations are accepted through Jan. 2.

Morishige said he is getting more calls from donors wanting to adopt families this year.

Each year for the past decade, 'Aikahi Elementary students have donated to a family, said principal Gay Kong.

"The students learn about their civic duty and understand that it's important to have outreach programs that benefit all of us in the end," Kong said. "It's all about how we're all interdependent as far as the world is concerned. If you do well, I do well.

"The students are always willing to pitch in."

Olivet Baptist Church already operates a food pantry and delivers sack lunches to homeless people, said the Rev. Dave Hockney, but the church decided to reach further into the community.

The church now has enough to meet the wish lists of all its adopted families, he said. People have brought in toys, clothes and gift cards for groceries.

"We haven't done something like this before, but one of our goals is for the church to reconnect with the community," Hockney said. "Programs like Helping Hands' Adopt-A-Family are a great way for the community to learn we care."

When 'Aikahi donated to Helping Hands last year, it adopted more than 20 families, Kong said. Students brought in bicycles, comforters, irons and skateboards. But this year, because of the poor economy, the school adopted eight families.

"The giving basket is important because it helps families that aren't as fortunate as other families that have their needs met," said Alecia Griffin, an 'Aikahi sixth-grader.

Said Lily O'Neill, a kindergartner: "I think the school is helping them by giving them stuff they don't have."