Charities Brace for Decline in Volunteers

For many charities and those they serve, now comes the 11-month famine.

The throngs of volunteers who since Thanksgiving have joined well-publicized efforts to provide food, shelter and gifts to the destitute and lonely have retreated to their post-Christmas private lives, setting in motion a less-visible but equally dramatic phenomenon: the non-holiday spirit.

It’s a trend leaders of some volunteer programs try to ward off every year, with little success.

“I try to suggest that people get involved some other time of the year, when we’re not so overloaded,” said Barry Smedberg, executive director of the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, which coordinates a number of charitable services. “But it’s hard to get people to agree to that. There’s a spirit during the holidays that just doesn’t seem to exist the rest of the year.”

Smedberg said he was contacted recently by a computer company, a bank, a realtors’ association and other business groups wanting to put on holiday charity events. None, he said, accepted his suggestion that they provide help during another month.

“You don’t want to tell people not to do their event, because every little bit helps,” Smedberg said. “But it would be nice to get away from the continuing feast-or-famine syndrome.”

The swell of giving at holiday time sometimes creates an unfortunate situation, Smedberg said, in which would-be volunteers can’t find a charity in need of their help.

The boom-bust syndrome affects those who can least afford it. After New Year’s, people who need help getting enough to eat find that meals offered at soup kitchens are generally less wholesome and bags of donated groceries are scarce.

Capt. James Halverson, commanding officer of the Salvation Army’s San Fernando Valley Corps, said many recipients of aid also disappear after the holidays, knowing there is less to be had.

Attendance at free meals at the Salvation Army’s Van Nuys branch drops by more than 50% after New Year’s, Halverson said, despite the sudden lack of onetime, holiday meal programs put on by churches, social organizations and business groups.

“It’s disappointing, because the need doesn’t end when Christmas is over,” Halverson said. “It would be something to get the spirit of helpfulness going all year long. There certainly are opportunities.”