Countywide : 1985 Was a Good Year, Most Charities Report

Despite a year of unprecedented international relief-fund campaigns for famine, earthquake, volcano and flood victims, a sampling of Orange County charities reported in most cases that year-end donations were as strong as last year and then some.

“This has been one of our busiest years on all fronts, including the earthquake in Mexico and volcano eruption in Colombia,” said Harry Huggins, a Red Cross spokesman. “A lot of money came out of the county to help these other places.”

Orange County donors provided $250,389 in relief to Mexico City, $41,000 to Colombia and $169,694 to Africa this year, Huggins said. He added that donations for this month totaled $69,000, $14,000 ahead of December, 1984.

For the first time since 1981, the Orange County United Way exceeded its annual campaign goal, according to spokeswoman Judy Trest. When the 1985 campaign ended Dec. 12, $18,407,443 had been collected, more than $7,000 ahead of the $18.4-million goal. Trest said the campaign took in $2 million more than 1984 for the 123 United Way member-agencies, all local nonprofit charities.

“The United Way came out well this year, although much of the money came in during the last weeks. We got into a lot more companies this year,” Trest said.

Goodwill representative Andrea Pronk said that December, when many persons give to take advantage of 1985 tax deductions, had been “a fury of activity,” in terms of volume of donations, but she could not give a dollar amount.

“Last weekend, we collected 18 trailers of donated goods countywide, as opposed to the usual eight,” Pronk said. “We’ve had our transportation, dock and collection people working overtime.”

A spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society said there was an increase in donated goods to the organization’s thrift stores in Corona del Mar and San Clemente, as well as an increase in checks received, but she also could not release any figures.

The Boy Scouts did not seem to fare as well. Dave Buckett, finance director for the Orange County Council, said a healthy amount of funds were collected from annual donors, but “new projects” did no better than previous years. “We’ve exceeded our goal in pledges but haven’t met the goal in cash,” Buckett said. He pointed out that the council had acted to cut expenses a few months ago and expected to finish the year “in the black.”

Huggins of the Red Cross cautioned that although donations had been strong, there was still a need for more money. He said the Orange County Red Cross must raise $216,000 by May as its quota for the National Red Cross fund-raising effort. So far, only $10,000 of this has been collected.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Huggins added.

Goodwill’s Pronk echoed the need for continued cash support. “We depend on donations to keep our operations going,” she said.