O.C. Charities: Less Giving and a Greater Need

Joan Abrams got a sense of the hard times that charities are likely to face this holiday season after a recent fund-raiser for her Garden Grove-based Christian Neighbors group.

Twice as many people attended the event as last year, but donations lagged compared to those taken in a year ago.

“People are not spending money; the funds are less,” said Abrams, who also heads the Interfaith Community Action Network, a coalition of more than 100 county nonprofit agencies. “And from what we’ve seen in the last six months, the need is going to be even greater.”

The double crunch of less giving and greater need is part of a disturbing trend noted by Orange County charitable groups in the last few years. This season there is the added punch of a recession. People are more cautious about where their dollars are going and many simply have no money to give.

Abrams said this year’s fund-raiser garnered about $17,000, half of what was expected.

Other charitable agencies tell similar tales:

* Although specific numbers are not yet available, United Way officials say it is likely that donations will be down this year. “We don’t know what the effect is going to be, but there will be an effect,” said campaign resource director Bruce Hird, who noted that many firms that have supported United Way in the past have laid off large numbers of employees.

* The Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross ended the fiscal year in June with a $282,000 operating deficit and was forced to lay off 15 staffers, said spokeswoman Judy Iannaccone, who attributes the shortfall to a drop in donations.

* Street People in Need (SPIN), a Newport Beach-based group that provides services for the homeless, has sliced its budget by a third this year--more than $100,000. That will mean less job counseling and cuts in other programs, executive director Samuel Boyce said.

Perhaps even more ominous than the charities’ fiscal problems is that many of the middle-class families who have formed these agencies’ donor base are now among those in need of food baskets and other emergency assistance, providers say.

“All of sudden, people who have worked all of their lives have lost jobs, can’t make ends meet and for the first time have to seek assistance,” said Bonnie Miller, program coordinator for the Lutheran Social Services organization, which has offices in Fullerton and Garden Grove.

And, because of the high cost of living in Orange County, even families with two wage earners are at risk because the loss of one income can result in financial difficulty.

The strains on families and agencies have been exacerbated because of recent tightening of unemployment insurance eligibility requirements, officials note. In addition, large numbers of workers who lose their jobs are covered for only 26 weeks rather than the 39-week coverage that has been standard during a recession.

From January through June, 12,770 county residents exhausted unemployment benefits, 3,130 in August alone, according to the state Economic Development Department. No longer eligible for unemployment insurance, these residents rely on welfare or charity.

County welfare officials say the best barometer of the recession’s local impact is in the numbers of intact families--father, mother and children--seeking assistance.

Such families tend to be the least frequent users of Aid to Families With Dependent Children but come into the system when unemployment rises and jobs are scarce.

Between 1989 and 1991, such cases rose more than 44%, reaching more than 49,300 through April of this year, according to the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Providers say the other big factor burdening private social agencies has been the rising number of working families whose finances have been stretched to the breaking point.

Miller said that in the first six months of this year, Lutheran Social Services served more than 24,000 people--double last year’s total caseload--with much of the gain coming from the ranks of recession-racked working families.

“Many agencies have talked about seeing a shift (in clientele) from folks that are homeless to working families who need help to pay for food, utilities, and to make rent and mortgage payments,” said William Fogerty, executive secretary-treasurer of the Orange County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Many of these families find themselves in welfare limbo.

“We have so many two-wage-earner households that if one person loses a job, it still puts a family in a desperate situation,” said Orange County Social Services Agency Director Lawrence Leaman. “They may not yet qualify for welfare, but they can’t make it without turning somewhere else.”

They increasingly are turning to the county’s patchwork net of nonprofit agencies and almost all report an unprecedented level of need in the county.

“I’ve been here for 25 years, and it’s the first time I’ve really seen us hit so hard. The pain is more widespread than it’s ever been,” said Dennis White, director of the Episcopal Service Alliance.

His group’s financial problems typify what is happening at many other agencies. The agency served more than 79,000 people last year at its centers in Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Laguna Beach and San Clemente.

Demand for services this year is up 10%--and that is on top of a 40% increase last year from 1989 levels--while donations have dropped nearly 20% from previous years.

The agency cannot meet the demand for emergency food, and its cupboards are going bare quicker than ever. The result has been a cutback: instead of opening five or six days a week, the group’s five community service offices now open only four days.

A monthly food-handout program in Santa Ana has been scaled back to once every three months. The agency has begun to prioritize other services, giving families with children preference for cash assistance.

“We know that we’re going to have to tighten our belts even more, and we slowly are preparing to do that,” White said.

Illustrative of the dilemma that agencies find themselves in is the formation of a new clearinghouse which will track recipients of federal rental, utility and eviction assistance to prevent “double-dipping” by clients.

Cash payments to help meet rents, mortgages and utilities are among the most costly programs for nonprofit agencies.

“Our funds have just been spread too thin,” said Miller of Lutheran Social Services.

The clearinghouse will be operated and staffed by the Community Development Council, the county’s official anti-poverty agency.

The 20 agencies that receive federal funds for such assistance will report their clients to the CDC, and the information will be computerized for checking. The program should be operational sometime this month, according to CDC Director Clarence (Buddy) Ray.

The clearinghouse is not required, but it should ease strains being placed on community agencies a bit, said the Central Labor Council’s Fogerty, who is also chairman of the Orange County Emergency Food and Shelter Board, which dispenses McKinney funds.

“I don’t think there is widespread abuse, but no matter what kind of program it is, if there is a way for people to take advantage of it they will,” he said.

While most agencies say that support from their core constituents has not abated, many are not optimistic about widening community involvement in their causes.

Veterans of Orange County’s social-welfare system say stereotypes still abound.

“We still don’t believe it’s actually as bad as it really is,” said White. “People don’t want to hear that there are 10,000 to 12,000 homeless people here, that there is a hunger issue, that conditions are much the same as in Los Angeles.”

White said that by the time county residents recognize that there is a problem, it may be too late.

“It won’t happen until we see areas that have deteriorated, where we have strong images of poverty that we can picture in our minds, that we can taste, feel and smell. And it’s going to happen if we’re not too careful.”

Orange County Charities

All of Orange County’s charitable organizations are in need this season. Here are a few suggestions of where to donate gathered from the Orange County Social Service Resource Directory. All are nonprofit, nondenominational agencies that provide emergency services. All are in need of volunteers. Those wishing to make contributions to various nonprofit agencies are also advised to contact their United Way representative or the agency directly at (714) 660-7600.

* American Red Cross, 602 N. Golden Circle, Santa Ana, 92705. (714) 835-5381. Accepts money donations.

* Catholic Charities, 2829 W. 1st St., Santa Ana, 92703. (714) 662-7500. Accepts money, food and clothing.

* Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled, 150 W. Cerritos Ave., Building 4, Anaheim, 92805. (714) 772-8285. Accepts money donations.

* El Modena Community Center, 18672 Center St., Orange, 92669. (714) 532-3452. Accepts food, clothes and household items.

* Episcopal Service Alliance, 150 Avenida Pico, San Clemente, 92672. (714) 492-8211. Accepts food, clothing and money. Seeks families for Thanksgiving and Christmas Adopt-a-Family programs.

* Fish Harbor Area Inc., 177-F Riverside Ave., Newport Beach, 92663. (714) 642-6060. Accepts food and money.

* Food Distribution Center, 426-A W. Almond Ave., Orange, 92666. Accepts food and money.

* Lutheran Social Services, 12432 9th St., Garden Grove, 92640. (714) 534-6450. Accepts food, clothing, money and household items.

* Orange County Rescue Mission, 1901 Walnut St., Santa Ana, 92703. (714) 835-0499. Accepts money, food and blankets.

* Salvation Army, 818 E. 3rd St., Santa Ana, 92701. (714) 542-9750. Accepts money, food and clothing.

* Share Our Selves, 1550 Superior Ave., Costa Mesa, 92627. (714) 642-3451. Accepts money, food and clothing.

* Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, 661 Hamilton Ave, Costa Mesa, 92627. (714) 631-8170. Accepts food and money.

* St. Vincent de Paul Society, 180 S. Cypress St., Orange, 92666. (714) 547-5566. Accepts food, clothing and money.

* Southwest Community Center, 1601 W. 2nd St., Santa Ana, 92703. (714) 547-4073. Accepts money, food and clothing.

* Street People in Need, 4921 Birch St. 190, Newport Beach, 92660. (714) 757-1456. Accepts money, furniture, food (coordinate deliveries with office), clothing and in-kind donations.