PRELUDE CHRISTMAS LATE GIFTS GLADDEN CHARITIES.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

After a late start, donations to local food and toy drives have surged past last year's totals but help is still needed, charity officials said Friday.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank faced a ``large-scale disaster'' until its executive director, Michael Flood, took his worries public early this week and got an overwhelming response.

Because of a major decline in supplies, coupled with an increased need, the food bank's reserve supply was down to 800,000 pounds, compared with 2.6 million pounds last Christmas.

Since the Daily News brought the problem to readers' attention Wednesday, however, donations have picked up, with the food bank receiving at least 150 calls from people looking to help with food and financing, and $6,000 in credit card donations.

Flood said the strong economy has fooled people into thinking donations are less needed this year.

``Certainly there are more people working,'' he said. ``But that doesn't guarantee you can put food on the table for your family.''

The food bank will be closed over the weekend, but people can contribute through its Web site, www.lafightshunger.org.

While most toy programs reported strong late collections, one of the biggest, the U.S. Marines' Toys for Tots, suffered a dramatic decrease this year.

The program received about 30,000 toys this year - compared with 130,000 last year and 260,000 in 1998, according to Gunnery Sgt. Fidel Garcia, spokesman for the San Fernando Valley branch of Toys for Tots.

That was not because of a ``Bah, humbug!'' spirit in the community, he said, but rather a shift in priorities for the local unit's commander.

``It's very personality-run,'' Garcia said. ``The commander of the unit changes every two years. This year, we didn't go and pick up toys at all.''

Instead of collecting toys, people were asked to drop them off at the program's Encino office, he said.

Also, several major organizations that usually partner with the Marines, especially Six Flags California, decided to work with other community organizations - meaning toys still are reaching children, but not through the Marines.

About 270 community organizations made requests for 80,000 toys from the Marines' Encino program this year. The Marines distribute them to the organizations, asking that they be given to parents to be wrapped and placed under trees for Christmas Day, rather than given directly to children prior to Christmas.

But Six Flags California, among others, helped to pick up the slack.

``It was our most successful year so far,'' park spokeswoman Amy Means said.

The park collected 20,000 toys through this year's promotion, compared with about 17,000 in past years, she said. She attributed the success to good weather and a greater number of partners, including the Boys & Girls Clubs, United Parcel Service and several media outlets.

Under the promotion, parkgoers could bring a toy worth $10 or more and get free admission on the first two weekends in December.

Casa Esperanza, a charity program in Panorama City, said its donations significantly outpaced last year's - although they came in much later than usual.

``We've actually had a very good response,'' said Maritza Varela de Artan, director of the program. ``A lot of it was last-minute. It made it a little difficult for us. We really need to plan ahead of time.''

She said the program has given out about 1,000 toys and 100 bags of food, compared with last year when they had fewer toys and about half as much food.

The program is not open this weekend to accept donations, and will remain closed next week. However, it will begin accepting more donations Jan. 2, to be given out for Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, which some Latino families mark by distributing additional presents.

The Toys for Tots office, 6337 Balboa Blvd., Encino, will be open for donations from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For information, call [phone].