Holiday charity abounds

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000 | 9:04 a.m.

It's that season again. The days are shorter, the air is colder and philanthropy is bursting at the seams.

From company toy drives to food drop-off sites to holiday parties and Thanksgiving dinners for the disadvantaged, Southern Nevadans are helping the needy during the holidays.

Rosemary West, director of community development for the United Way of Southern Nevada, said she's receiving at least one call a day since October from businesses wanting to help.

"People really want the opportunity to give," West said.

West heads a holiday coalition, an informal mix of local businesses and organizations, including Help of Southern Nevada, Salvation Army and the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots that connects givers and volunteers with people needing help.

"It's a very simple organizational thing that we do so we don't duplicate efforts,' she said. "We also run a database for the project so that there is a way of keeping track of who receives help."

Businesses and organizations say the coordinated effort is necessary. In the past certain groups were inundated with gifts and volunteers while others were left out. Families were picking up toys from several charities, leaving some families without any.

While it's nice because "the generosity is great and there's a big understanding that people here need help," the main concern is "how we can make it better," said Staff Sgt. Frank Benavente, who is the Las Vegas Toys for Tots coordinator.

Last year, not enough children were adopted through the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program at area malls, leaving organizers to make last-minute pleas, according to Sumner Dodge, spokesman for local Salvation Army.

The Marines' Toys for Tots program, a 53-year-old effort nationally and one of the largest in the Las Vegas Valley, was also down in toy donations last year, Benavente, said.

The program supplied 40,000 toys to 50 organizations last year. This year, it already has received requests from 25 groups.

In one of the biggest drives last year, radio station KLUC 98.5-FM collected 98,000 toys for children. Disc jockey Chet Buchanan spent 12 days on a scaffolding in a mall parking lot to promote the donations. Buchanan will live on the scaffolding for 12 days again this year.

The growing number of volunteers and holiday helpers is giving the homeless a lot more choices, Dodge said. But fewer people are helping older charities because so many new groups are around, he added.

The Salvation Army's holiday dinners, for example, are getting smaller turnouts. In 1997, 2,500 people were fed holiday meals provided by the Salvation Army. Last year, 1,292 were served.

Still, local shelters and organizations expect to help thousands of needy. In addition to holiday meals and toys, food baskets are donated. The Salvation Army said it served more than 16,000 people last year during the holidays. Help of Southern Nevada is already receiving applications for help.

"We've had a packed office for two days with people applying to be adopted," said Amy Hendrix of Help of Southern Nevada, which has an Adopt-a-Family program.

The Ronald McDonald House, a temporary home for families with seriously ill children, is collecting toys. The charity is also "piggy-backing" with local businesses to help children at Child Haven, which provides temporary housing to abused and neglected children, and Desert Willow Treatment Center, which serves as the state hospital for children ages 6 to 18.

Calls from businesses wanting to help out at Child Haven are being shuttled to Ronald McDonald House, said Jo Ann Malone, executive director for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The charity provided a Halloween Party for the two homes and is planning a Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas party. It hopes to collect 600 items this year.

"We thought Desert Willow might be a forgotten part of our society. The kids out there really need from the community," Malone said.

Other area holiday giving includes: