Slowly but surely the Young Professionals are reaching their goal of playing Secret Santa to about 650 children this Christmas.

Right now the Greater Lawrence Chamber of Commerce organization has almost $10,000 in donations received with pledges of about an additional $2,000. Their goal was to hit $14,000 to meet all the needs of the children this year.

“I know we will get something for everyone,” Casey Baker of the Young Professionals said. “It won’t be a super blowout Christmas for everybody. But that is not what this program is about. It’s about everyone getting warm coats, shoes and clothes.”

This was the second Christmas for the Young Professionals to organize the winter clothing and toy giveaway for Lawrence County children ages birth to 12-year-old.

It’s been a non-stop few weeks, as the organization gets ready for the distribution of presents on Sunday.

“There’s a little bit more shopping to do, sorting and wrapping,” said Baker, who estimates about 1,000 man-hours have gone into the project. “My life has been wake up, go to work, work on Secret Santa and go to bed.”

Joining the Young Professionals have been a variety of church and civic groups, schools and individuals who have sponsored children, taking care of the shopping chores themselves.

“We knew going in that that was going to be the key, to get the community involved,” Baker said. “And God bless this community, that has been what has happened. We couldn’t do this without everyone chipping in.”

Also Buffalo Wild Wings in Ironton and Casa Grande restaurant in Burlington contributed a percentage of a day’s sales to the cause.

After Sunday this year’s program will be over. But the Young Professionals are already gearing up for Christmas 2011.

“This is an ongoing project,” Baker said. “We will be building a war chest for next year. It is something that needs to happen in the community and people in our group love to do it. It is a natural fit for the Young Professionals.”