BEAVER SPRINGS -- Sharon says she's known tough times, but never this tough.

A disability is preventing her from working as a nurse, and with her husband working sporadically in the wood products field, they are struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills.

"This is the first year in years that we have ever needed help like this," said Sharon, 36, who asked that her real name and those of her family not be used in this story.

Despite her own family's struggle, Sharon said she worried about asking for help from the Needy Family Fund, wondering if they were needy enough.

"If we can afford to do things, I would prefer (the fund) benefit someone who can benefit more," she said.

This year, Sharon is hoping the fund will allow her to give her family, which includes her 18-year-old son and 14- and 6-year-old daughters, a decent Christmas dinner.

Sharon's 18-year-old son is hoping for some video games, while her 14-year-old likes clothes and her 6-year-old likes to play with Barbies.

"To have help like that out there is wonderful," Sharon said. "And if you're not on the receiving end, if you can at least give one or two things, there's people out there who may not be able to have a Christmas. For a child to wake up on Christmas morning and not have anything, it's kind of devastating."

The Needy Family Fund total now stands at $4,625. Recent donors are as follows: Stanley Harrison, Lewisburg, $100; John and Barbara Pagana, Sunbury, $500; Kenneth Moore, Lewisburg, $300; John and Susan Sibler, Shamokin Dam, $100; Lamar and Susan Denise, Lewisburg, $100; Frank and Carol Schindler, Port Trevorton, $50; Charles Garman, Selinsgrove, $50; Rich Walter, in memory of Grace Raker, $25; and anonymous, $105.