Ailing economy blamed for drop in charity

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

Two major local charities banking on holiday season generosity for a large chunk of their annual donations are seeing less money this year than last and are blaming the struggling economy for the downturn.

Fund-raising efforts at the Salvation Army Clark County Command and at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada are both trailing last year's efforts.

Meanwhile, donations to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission are about equal to last year, but still below the average amount the charity receives.

The local Salvation Army is at least $100,000 behind last year's holiday season fund-raising pace, finance director Gary Zielinski said.

Last holiday season the local Salvation Army received about $890,000 in donations -- or about 60 percent of the $1.48 million the group raised throughout the year.

"More people are unsure with their funds and hanging on to a little more," Zielinski said. "There's concern because we've seen a huge increase in need."

The county Salvation Army helped about 2,500 families buy food and clothes and pay bills last year. This year the organization has given such assistance to about 3,200 families, spokesman Charles Desiderio said.

Also, about 8,000 local children participated in the Salvation Army's Christmas Angel program last year. This year there were 10,000 children in the program, in which donors buy gifts for needy children, Desiderio said.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks hurt holiday-season fund-raising a little last year, but the Salvation Army was able to more than make up the difference over the rest of the year, Zielinski said. In 2000 the local Salvation Army raised about $915,000 over the holiday season and about $1.4 million for the year.

Catholic Charities typically raises about $120,000 through its annual holiday-season mail solicitation, which begins in November. But this year, even though the same number of people donated to Catholic Charities, the fund-raising letters have brought in 40 percent less money, spokeswoman Sharon Mann said.

"The stock market is down." Mann said. "The economy is down. People are just watching their dollars in general and there just isn't enough to go around.

"People want to help but they just can't give as much as in the past because of their own situations."

For the fiscal year, which ends on June 30, donations to Catholic Charities are down about $200,000 compared with last year, Mann said.

During the last fiscal year the organization received almost $1.4 million in donations. Because of the downturn the organization has borrowed money from the Diocese of Las Vegas, she said.

The Las Vegas Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, typically receives about 40 percent of its donations during the holiday season.

So far this holiday season, the group has received about $631,000, and finance manager Bart Rowe estimated another $50,000 will come in before the end of the year.

Although the donations are about even with last year, the total is still about $145,000 less than the group received in 1999, Rowe said.

Since 1999, the fund-raising efforts of the Las Vegas Rescue Mission have been hindered by the opening of another rescue mission in the area that used a similar name, and then by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said.

But Rowe had an optimistic view of this year's donations.

"Now we're just about even with the money taken in last year (at this time), while most charities are saying giving is going down," Rowe said. "We've been here 31 years and have a steady and loyal donor base."