Charities open giving season

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

This is shaping up as a happy holiday for some local charities, but others are finding themselves worrying, once again, that they won't have enough toys and food for their needy clients.

"We're doing a little bit better than last year, thanks to our loyal base of donors," Bart Rowe, finance manager for the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, said. "Our annual cash donation is about $1 million and we are probably 90 percent of the way there."

The United Way of Southern Nevada, an umbrella funding agency for local charities, is 7 percent ahead of where it was last year, spokeswoman Gena Satori said.

"Our traditional givers are giving, and quite generously," she said.

At this time last year, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, local charities were struggling to get donations to keep pace with the need. Money poured in immediately after the attacks, much of it earmarked for victims, tapping traditional holiday giving sources. The weak economy and local layoffs made matters worse.

"Last year was very unique," Satori said, noting that the United Way's double-digit increases in giving of previous years were wiped out after the attacks.

The Salvation Army is having a decent year compared with 2000, before the terrorist attacks, spokesman Charles Desiderio said.

"Our mail appeal returns are running about even with 2000 and our test bell-ringer kettles at a few locations for the first couple of days are a little ahead of 2000," he said.

But the nonprofit is still struggling to meet the need this year.

"I can't stress enough that the need for our services is so much greater. To meet those needs we would have to finish 10 to 15 percent better than 2000," Desiderio said.

The outlook for such an increase isn't good. Salvation Army officials are growing more concerned about the annual kettle drive, which has seen a decrease each year in the number of locations where kettles are allowed.

This year the charity has only 130 donation sites, and the same number of employees. Last year there were 140 in the Las Vegas area. Workers receive minimum wage for eight hours a day of work.

"More and more facilities are not allowing bell ringers because they say if they allow one charity they have to allow them all," said Charles Desiderio, director of development and marketing for the Salvation Army. "Many organizations are not allowing our Christmas Angel program either."

The Christmas Angel program, in which donors choose a needy child for whom to buy Christmas gifts, will not be at the Boulevard mall this year. However, the J.C. Penney store in the mall will host the program. The J.C. Penney store at the Boulevard was also the site for the Salvation Army's annual bell ringing kickoff on Tuesday.

Desiderio listed Dillard's, Target, Wal-Mart, Smith's Food and Drug Centers, and Vons as other stores allowing bell ringers on their properties.

"It gets more difficult at times to to find locations," Maj. William Raihl, Clark County coordinator for the Salvation Army, said. "It is so vital to what we do."

The Salvation Army isn't the only charity coming across tight purse strings this year.

Catholic Charities Director of Development Allan Johnson said the agency had only 110 Thanksgiving turkeys donated as of last Monday, hundreds down from the more than 1,000 received last year.

"We were really worried," Johnson said. "Then a week and two days later more than 1,100 came in. We have more givers this year, but the gift amount is a bit down. It's been a very peculiar holiday time for us."

For the year giving is about 20 percent down from 2000, but the holiday donations so far are keeping pace with the pre-Sept. 11 giving, Catholic Charities spokeswoman Sharon Mann said.

Many charities met or just missed their collection goals last season, despite fears early on the season that they would come up short because of local generosity shown toward New York and Washington following the Sept. 11 terrorists.

"Last year our kettles generated the same as the year before, but the need is greater," Desiderio said. "That's what has happened to us. Hopefully we will make it up."

The fears have returned this year because of an unstable stock market and weakening economy, which some charities say have left them with more mouths to feed and fewer donors. In some parts of the country charities are reporting that their former donors have come to them for a helping hand.

"We saw a lot more of donors becoming recipients last year after Sept. 11th," Satori said. "Many people have been rehired, and we're finding people becoming employed again, however there is still a huge need out there."

Still, she added, "We are thankful for every single dollar that comes in the door."

Sun reporter

Ed Koch contributed to this story.