Christmas Spirit Helping Many Charities, While Scrooges Make It Harder for a Few

Despite problems at two large charities and a poll showing that affluent Orange County residents “tend to be less than generous,” a survey of major county charities reveals that many are faring well and, in some cases, better than expected this holiday season.

There are signs that people are bypassing established charities to give directly to the needy or that they are donating to other charities this year, spokesmen for charitable groups say.

There are many success stories, such as at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Distribution Center of Orange, which will distribute up to 20 tons of food--up from 1985, a spokesman said.

The increase is due primarily to a food-collection contest among 26 elementary schools, with free lunches at Carl’s Jr. restaurants for winners.

“It has worked very well for us, and is the reason we’re collecting more this year,” said Dan Harney, who heads the operation. “We hope to expand that program next year because it has been such a success.”

But United Way of Orange County told agencies relying on it for money to expect 10.5% less during the first six months of 1987 because this year’s fund-raising drive fell $2.5 million short of its goal. The 123 agencies will receive $681,727 less than last year, a spokesman said.

The organization blamed the shortfall on the economic climate and a tainted public image from a controversy involving loans by the Los Angeles United Way to five of its top employees.

Also, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves’ Toys for Tots program had collected only 9,000 toys by early last week, far short of the goal of 25,000, forcing the program’s deadline to be extended.

By Saturday, 20,000 toys had been collected, compared to 21,000 last year.

“With late pickups, we might equal last year,” Marine Maj. Alice Marie Joralemon said. “We may make it. A couple more companies promised us some toys.”

Pleasant Surprises

Other charitable groups have been pleasantly surprised.

“We have found corporations as well as individuals have been very charitable this year,” said Maureen Thomas, spokeswoman for Santa Ana Police Department, which helped distribute 750 food baskets, up from 500 last year.

“We’ve had calls from individuals wanting to donate whatever they could,” she said. “We have families call who have children who are getting a new bike for Christmas who want to donate (their old) bike.”

Changes in the federal tax law, effective Jan. 1, may be partly the reason. The changes mean greater tax reductions if charitable donations are made in 1986, said Doug Myers, tax partner with Coopers & Lybrand, a Newport Beach accounting firm. Consequently, he said, “the knowledgeable contributor” is unlikely to decrease donations now.

“Our clients seem to be as generous as they have been in the past, and some even more generous,” he said.

But Mark Baldassare, associate professor of social ecology at UC Irvine, said he sees no evidence of a “year-end surge in donations to charities.”

“I don’t see it materializing,” Baldassare said. “It follows with my thesis that greater wealth doesn’t necessarily bring greater feelings of charity in Orange County.”

‘Not Giving Like They Could’

The annual Orange County Survey, a random telephone poll of county residents conducted by Baldassare, found that only 46.6% said it is “very important to give money to the poor.” Baldassare said the United Way’s problems reinforce his conclusion that “people are not giving like they could in Orange County.”

However, the survey also found that only 8.6% believed that it is “not important” to give to the poor. A sizable block, 44.8%, said it is “somewhat important,” an answer Baldassare says is not a good measure of “values and obligations.”

“People are either very sincere about it, or not,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s very unpleasant for people to admit they are not, so we give them an out, a medium-range category.”

Nevertheless, Baldassare’s survey also showed 79% of Orange County residents said they donated $50 or more to help the poor in the past year. The highest percentage of people (81.6%) donating $50 or more were from west Orange County, the county’s least affluent area.

But Baldassare said that had little significance.

“I think it ($50) is too small to be meaningful, and I chose not to use that figure in my analysis. Next year I’ll ask a better question,” he said. “I really should have chosen several hundred (dollars), given what the income level is here.”

On the whole, Baldassare concluded, Orange County residents are “not as giving as could be, given the level of income.” One in three residents, he said, comes from a household with an annual income of more than $50,000.

Nevertheless, many donors this holiday season are giving at or near previous levels, according to local charities.

200 More Baskets

The Salvation Army in Anaheim will give out 700 food baskets this Christmas, about 200 more than last year. Donations of food and gifts for the Orange County Rescue Mission’s Christmas Day dinner for 1,300 are going well, spokesman Michael Eppley said. “We’re pretty much on a smooth road with it.”

Elsewhere, there are signs that Scrooge is at work.

“We’re running way behind,” said Connie Jones, director of the Southwest Community Center in Santa Ana, which distributes food baskets. “We (are) 150 families short. There are a lot of companies whose budgets are tight and not coming through this year.”

But Jones said some people may be giving instead to the food program operated by Santa Ana police. Also, she said, Annie Mae Tripp, 73, who has run the center for 10 years, is ill this year, and “she has more experience. When it is someone different, they are not as ready to contribute.”

Catholic Charities, one of the county’s largest charities, “started slowly, but we’ve been (getting) a lot more things in the last couple of days,” outreach director Dee Warbington said. “We’re getting more hard cash donations the last week or so.”

More Individual Efforts

The outlook for Catholic Charities is about the same as last year, but smaller groups and individuals are doing more on their own, bypassing her organization, Warbington said.

“They come to us and ask us to find a family they can help,” Warbington said. “There is a lot more of that going on than last year.”

At the Orange County Community Development Council, the official anti-poverty agency for the county and a food bank for several other agencies, donations are “doing all right,” marketing manager Joe Bellis said. “Basically the program has been working very, very well,” he said.

There are still needs at the Olive Crest Treatment Center of Santa Ana, which cares for 150 severely abused children, ages 2 to 18, Assistant Executive Director Lois Verleur said.

“Everybody is giving things for the toddlers,” Verleur said. “But we have a lot of needs for teen-agers. For example, we’re in need of nightgowns and underclothing.”

Verleur said the greatest difference this year is cash contributions, which totaled only $1,530 by Thursday, compared to $15,000 last year.

Last-Minute Donations

“But people usually give money in the last couple of days before Christmas,” she said.

Doris Klein, spokeswoman for the Visiting Nurse Assn. of Orange County, said: “We’re doing very well. We have a lot of food coming in from the community. It’s less (than 1985), but it’s not drastically (less).”

Even among charities where contributions are up, spokesmen stressed that more is always welcome.

“There are a lot of needy people in Santa Ana,” said Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Thomas. “We did not have a problem finding families, that’s for sure.”