When it comes to getting an early start on Christmas shopping, being decisive and efficient and finding good deals, it would be hard to outdo Kathleen Meade.

It also would be hard to find anyone with a longer shopping list.

Meade is the longtime executive director of the Press Herald Toy Fund. Each year, she buys gifts for thousands of children, boys and girls, from infants to teenagers.

Meade does the shopping in the spring, flying out to Cincinnati to spend one full day choosing gifts from a large vendor who offers the toys at wholesale prices minus a charity discount. The discount allows Meade to use the money donated by Press Herald readers to buy well over 10,000 toys, craft sets, stuffed animals and electronics, the same items you might find at the mall.

Choosing isn’t as it hard it might seem, she said. “I kind of go by what I like for gifts. It seems to work.”

She buys enough so every family that seeks help can get three or four gifts for each child. “We try to hit fun, educational, crafty and something silly.”

The trickiest part is trying to guess what age ranges will be the most in demand.

“You can never know who will show up. One year it’s a lot of 9-year-old boys. The next year, it’s 3-year-old girls.”

She typically plans for about 100 kids of each age and gender, but she builds in flexibility by choosing some gifts that can work for multiple ages.

The shopping, of course, is only the first step in the process.

All those gifts are now being prepared for distribution by about 50 volunteers.

Meade’s focus is on the flow of applications from families who need help and the donations from readers that will keep the 68-year-old fund going, and pay for the next shopping trip.

• THE TOY FUND uses donations from readers to provide toys to thousands of Maine children who might otherwise not receive holiday gifts because of hardships faced by their parents. Now in its 69th year, the fund is accepting applications for toys from needy families in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, Lincoln and Knox counties.

• APPLICATIONS can be downloaded at pressheraldtoyfund.org or picked up at the Press Herald’s Welcome Center, at 295 Gannett Drive in South Portland. Call 791-6672 or 791-6600 to have one mailed to you.

• DONATIONS to help buy the toys can be made at pressheraldtoyfund.org or by writing checks to the Portland Press Herald Toy Fund and mailing them to the fund at P.O. Box 7310, Portland, ME 04112.

• FOR MORE INFORMATION, go to: pressheraldtoyfund.org.