Charities make plea for local giving

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

Las Vegas charity leaders said Tuesday that they need help this holiday season because charitable giving has slumped during a sagging economy and that a bulk of charity has been directed to help victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a public call for support, charity leaders said local giving has decreased, and they hope that the public will come to the rescue as Las Vegans did after the terrorist attacks when locals gave between $7 million and $10 million to those victims.

"Every organization has been working hard since Sept. 11," said Gina Satori of the local United Way. "What we have seen is that radio stations, TV stations, other businesses and people are calling us to ask how they can help. There is a coming together of the public and the non-profits.

"More people are giving, the problem is they are not giving as much as they have in the past."

Satori said the United Way, the umbrella agency for area charities, is running 6 percent ahead of last year for donations, but that is misleading because usually at Christmas the agency runs 18 percent ahead. Other charities see the same thing:

* Donations for the Salvation Army are down while requests for holiday assistance, including gifts for children, are up 38 percent.

* The Community Food Bank has seen a 15 percent increase in requests but is lacking the cash to arrange transportation and volunteers to get the food to 105 local charities it serves.

* HELP of Southern Nevada reports a 70 percent increase of client services for families in need of rent, utilities and holiday payments.

"The impact of Sept. 11 will transform life for years to come, and the bottom line is we will either succeed together or suffer together," said Steve Chartrand, president and CEO of Goodwill of Southern Nevada.

Satori said she has received calls from area businesses and employees saying that instead of having expensive Christmas parties, they want to help provide assistance for poor families, a trend that has been happening nationwide. However, Satori declined to say which businesses because it is not yet known if they will indeed follow through with that plan.

Gail Ousley, interim executive director of the United Way, said she does not believe that there has been a decrease in the desire to give in the wake of Sept. 11.

"Las Vegas as still being a giving community," she said. "We are seeing a switching of that giving to here instead of to the terrorist victims."

Several of the agencies have thrift stores, none of which are doing bang-up Christmas business. Karen Fell of Opportunity Village said sales at her agency's thrift stores are down 25 percent from the previous month.

One thing charity groups never run short on is people in need.

Capt. Mark Gilden of the Salvation Army in Henderson said his chapter alone assisted 999 children and seniors at Christmas in 1999 and 1,900 last year. Estimates are that this Christmas the agency will assist up to 3,000 seniors and children in need, he said.

Laramie Roberts of HELP of Southern Nevada echoed that sentiment, noting that her agency assisted 400 families last Christmas and this year will assist 1,015 families, including 3,000 children,

Hannah Johnston at MASH Village said the problems of declining revenues are compounded by a significant increase in people seeking services at the crisis intervention center.

Allan Johnson of Catholic Charities said every morning the line of local people who recently lost their jobs is a block long outside Catholic Charities. Many of them have never before filed for any kind of assistance.

Angie Wallin of Endeavor said her agency's 25th year of existence has been "a roller-coaster ride" with its developmental child care center being successful with a waiting list of 60 children but troubling because it faces a $90,000 deficit for 2002.

Still, the agencies say they will try to press on despite the financial hurdles. Bessie Braggs of the Community Food Bank said: "We do what we do until we can't do anymore."