Dec 22, 2008 6:35 pm US/Central
Charities Face Difficulties As Need Increases
The recession is troublesome for many businesses, but charities are being hit especially hard. They are feeling the squeeze, just as the need for their services are increasing. They're having to make tough choices just to stay afloat. CBS 2's Derrick Blakely reports.
Hard times for working Americans are translating into more hardship for the less fortunate. One Chicago organization is considering eliminating an essential service.
The Salvation Army's Christmas kettle campaign is running an estimated $700,000 behind its goal. Many who used to donate, now just walk on by.
The Franciscan Outreach Association may have to close its north side soup kitchen, due to a $400,000 deficit. When the stock market collapsed in the fall, so did their donations.
Diana Faust from the Franciscan Outreach Association said, "That's when I started to hear from donors who normally donate to us that their assets have dropped by a third, they were donating from their savings and because of that, they can't donate, or can't donate much."
The soup kitchen serves an average of 125 people a night, at a cost of about $7, but equally important, it provides an opportunity for counselors to interact with clients. They often refer them to programs and services to help get them back on their feet.
"As far as this organization is concerned, they basically saved my life. Before I came here I was actually sleeping out on the street for a year," Franciscan outreach client Joseph Steurer said.
Franciscan Outreach also runs a 246-bed west side shelter, the second largest in the city. However, that's a service the organization is reluctant to cut.
"People cannot live in Chicago with no shelter this time a year," Faust said.
It's much like the grim choice faced by the poor themselves: provide shelter or provide food.
"It's gonna hurt a lot of people. A lot of people depend on it. They got no other resources," Franciscan outreach client Mike Burns said.
Most charities receive a boost in donations as Christmas approaches, but that's not expected to be enough to eliminate the shortfalls at Franciscan Outreach or the Salvation Army.
After Christmas, donors usually give the Salvation Army up to $300,000 in stock that's gone up in value, but with the market down so much, that's more money they're not expecting to receive.
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