Recession puts a pinch on holiday donations

BRISTOL, Va. – Linda Fleenor cast a concerned look last Tuesday toward a nearly full Angel Tree in front of her post at Walmart’s customer service desk.

With just a little more than two weeks to go before Christmas, Fleenor’s tree and a second Angel Tree at the Exit 7 store’s main entrance were full of long strips of white paper, or angels, that signified a needy child the Salvation Army of Bristol Tenn./Va. had hoped to help this holiday season.

“It seems that tree’s been fuller, longer than last year,” said Fleenor, who’s supervised her store’s participation in the Salvation Army’s annual clothing and toy drive for the past 14 years. “It must be the economy, I don’t know.”

Those participating choose an angel from the tree and then provides toys and clothing to help the child have a happy holiday.

On Thursday, 300 angels were still hanging from the branches of the Walmart’s two trees and others set up by the Salvation Army’s local chapter at seven
other stores and restaurants in Bristol and the surrounding area.

That number means that 300 of the 1,400 children whose families turned to the program for help, may not get it, said Major Peggy Mullins, the charity’s co-director. She said only 1,200 children received help from the program last year.

Mullins said her organization also had only received gifts for 451 of the angels that had been selected by Thursday, which was two days before the drive was set to end. This meant nearly half the angels that had been taken from the trees had not yet been returned, another figure that is worse than last year’s.

“Hopefully, people are going to come through,” Mullins said, adding that if people still want to bring in gifts for the angels they adopted after Saturday’s deadline: “I’ll accept them.”

The Angel Tree program has seen a huge spike in demand that has coincided with a decrease in donations or participation. It’s a common dilemma this holiday season for many groups working in the region to raise money or gifts for needy children and adults. It’s had them putting in extra hours, counting their blessings, cutting back on their staff and other expenses, and in some cases, struggling to survive.

Doom and Gloom

A series of wind storms last week knocked out power for thousands of area residents just one week after the American Red Cross’ Mountain Empire Chapter sent out a holiday mailing soliciting donations that would make up 6 percent of the agency’s annual budget.

“It’s a very critical time for us,” the chapter’s Executive Director Felisha McNabb said Thursday. On that day, her charity set up three emergency shelters to help those without power.

The organization’s disaster response teams were also busy last week, as they are at the start of every winter season. That’s when “more people, well those who have power, are turning on their heat and that’s when you start having fires,” she said.

But as McNabb’s staff was trying to pull together as many resources as they could to help those in need, the one thing they weren’t doing was collecting donations from the agency’s Christmas mailing. By Thursday, she said, the Mountain Empire Chapter had only received $850. Its budget calls for this end-of-the-year fundraising drive to bring in $30,000.

“We’re trying to do more with fewer people,” McNabb said, adding that a drop in donations forced the agency to cut two positions last summer.

“We’re trying to pick up, but with such a small staff that gets hard to do,” she said.

McNabb pins the drop in donations solely on the economy. There’s less money to go around as more people lose jobs, she said, and many of those who are
employed have had their hours cut so their contributions have decreased or even ceased.

“People are being more careful with their giving and don’t have as much to give,” said Lisa Cofer, executive director of the Bristol Tenn./Va. United Way.

By Thursday, Cofer’s organization had only collected $1.03 million toward the $1.25 million goal for this year’s fundraising campaign, which started in August.

“We’re just struggling right now to make that last little bit,” she said, adding that the drive, which normally wraps up at the end of November, will be extended into January unless something drastic happens.

Last year, Cofer said, the local United Way missed its goal but still honored the commitments it made to the 30 agencies it supports, including the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, by relying on a surplus of donations from previous drives.

“I’m concerned about how long we can continue to do that,” she said.

Like McNabb and Mullins, Cofer said she’s seen an increase in the number of people asking for help. Many, she said, have never sought help and struggle with it.

But, she’s also seen a few bright spots.

“People whose [economic] situation haven’t changed are giving more,” she said, to make up for those who can’t afford to give.

Other bright spots

One of the causes that has drawn the most support this year is the fight against hunger, said Edward Roberts, the resource development officer for the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank.

The organization got a boost earlier this year, Roberts said, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a study showing that the number of “food insecure” families, or those who struggle to put food on the table at least once a month, jumped by 34 percent over the past year.

“Right now, the issue of hunger in the U.S. is more on people’s minds than it ever was before,” Roberts said. “There’s a realization that this is something that can happen to anybody at any time.”

Roberts said this realization has fueled an increase in donations of both food and cash. With the increase, he said, the food bank has been able to “hold our own” while the need for its services has gone up.

Roberts said the food bank distributed 13.6 million pounds of food last year, which was 2 million pounds more than it distributed the year before.

“We’re definitely on track to see [that amount of food get distributed] again this year,” he said.

The Santa Pal program is another whose contributors are coming through. In its 83rd year, it allows individuals, families or organizations to “adopt” a child and help make his or her Christmas more merry by providing toys and clothing. Money can also be given for those children not selected.

Last week, volunteer Peggy Brown said her group had found benefactors for 195 of the 633 families who applied for its services this year. The agency had only lined up 175 benefactors by the same time last year, she said.

“I’m glad you made me look [those numbers] up,” Brown said in a phone interview. “It will please the committee.”

Back at the Angel Tree at the Walmart store in Bristol, Linda Fleenor said the news wasn’t all bad.

Although the trees seemed to remain covered with angels not selected, the shopping cart used to store donations was filling up.

“It seems like there’s still a Christmas spirit here because people are still buying gifts,” Fleenor said, adding that about 20 to 30 people have turned gifts in
each day since the campaign started.

One of those people was Sheila Boswell, who stopped by the customer service desk with her daughter, three grandchildren and gifts for four children she took from the tree.

“We understand what it’s like,” Boswell said, explaining how she grew up poor and sometimes had to rely on the generosity of others to have a nice Christmas.

It was because of this upbringing, Boswell said, that she and her family continue to give during the holiday season no matter the shape of the economy.

“We still try,” she said. “We sure do.”

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518