Sure, the tinsel-lined holiday displays have been up in some stores for weeks. But does anyone really start preparing for Christmas this early?

Glen Bailey does. He has to. Come Dec. 23, he expects more than 1,800 needy families to be lined up outside Rowland St. Mark's School waiting for boxes of Christmas food. And he doesn't want to turn anyone away.

Even as some economic indicators are showing a slow rebound from the worst recession since the Great Depression, many families are still struggling to pay their bills and put food on their tables. So, organizers of a network of holiday charities believe their programs will be in need more than ever this year.

Bailey, executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center, said about 1,000 families were provided Christmas food at his organization's annual gift program in 2007. The next year it increased to 1,600. And this year, Bailey said, he's expecting a record turnout.

Problem is, Bailey said, many traditional donors have been stretched thin.

"We're going to pull this thing off," he said, "but I'm not sure how. We may need to spend more than we have."

At the Salvation Army, Richard Green is praying for some miracles.

"Demand is already up -- way up," said Green, the organization's Salt Lake Basin coordinator. "We're finding more people coming in and applying for help than we ever have in the past. At the same time, the situation is that we're finding fewer people are in a position to help."

Green said the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program will seek to provide gifts for up to 4,000 children this year. "We're going to do it -- some how," he said "I don't know how. But the Lord and the community have always been good at responding when there is a need. So I'm hoping and praying."

Meanwhile, at the temporary offices of the Utah Association for People with Intellectual Disabilities, scores of paper ornaments are taped to a mirrored wall in a donated space that used to be a dance studio. Each ornament has the name of a person the association serves and a list of gifts they would like. Even before Halloween, the association already had 165 ornaments hanging on the wall, and another 600 requests for applications to the program.

"We'll probably have 1,000 applications before all is said and done," said Joyce Whalen, the association's board president.

While she knows this is a troubled time for many, Whalen has faith in Utahns' spirit of giving.

So does Cesar Diaz. For 10 years he's been helping to organize the annual Toy Drive for Hispanic Families in Need. And there have been some years in which he didn't think there would be enough toys and clothes to meet the demand.

But Diaz said that Utahns always come through in the end.

That doesn't mean he's not worried. Diaz said about 20 percent of his traditional donors have told him they won't be able to participate this year.

"We'll probably help about 3,000 children this year," Diaz said. "These are children whose families are very much in need. Most of these families have single mothers who are very low income. So I am concerned because the less resources we have, the less people we can help."

mlaplante@sltrib.com