As the "season of giving" between Thanksgiving and Christmas winds down, the Salvation Army in Salt Lake City reports that it has received significantly less assistance this year from the community.
But most other agencies say that charitable giving is holding steady. And a couple have seen nice increases.Most agencies that serve poor people rely on the holiday season to provide the bulk of the donations they receive in a year.
"Our monetary donations are about 15 percent below last year's," said Maj. Thomas Elliott of the Salvation Army. "I'm not sure about the exact number of cases. We planned on helping 3,000 families.
"I have no idea why donations are down. . . . It's conceivable it will come up."
Nationwide, donations to the Salvation Army are down about 12 percent.
While the army is receiving less cash than in past years, "we've gotten a tremendous number of very nice toys. Some of the things we receive here are gorgeous."
"We did very well this year," said Sharon Abegglen, Salt Lake Community Action Program. "We did probably twice what we did last year - and got very nice things. People are very generous and we got cash donations from the corporate world, so we've been really blessed. Our cash donations alone are almost double, to about $10,000."
Abegglen believes that publicity surrounding a shortage of turkey donations at the Utah Food Bank just before Thanksgiving may have made people more aware of the community's need for help.
St. Vincent De Paul Center, operated by Catholic Community Services, also received more help than in past years, particularly "unrestricted cash donations." Director Robert Mayo believes that most people in the community know the center operates a dining room for homeless people, as well as providing other services.
"They know what we do here and they're willing to help," he said. "What we can't use we pass off to other agencies."
The Deseret News Sub for Santa program took in much less cash than in past years. But the newspaper had to do few written appeals to find sponsors to adopt the needy families. And most of them were adopted pretty early, said Steve Handy, marketing director.
Donations to the Salt Lake Community Shelter and Resource Center - Utah's largest homeless shelter network - have held steady compared with past years, according to Maun Alston, director of Travelers Aid Society. The society operates the shelter, which was built through community donations.
Thursday, First Security Bank became the shelter's first "room sponsor." The donation will pay the cost of maintaining one room and providing case management to the inhabitants for one year.
Crossroads Urban Center reports mixed results. "(Money) donations are about comparable," said director Glenn Bailey, "but we didn't do as well with a food drive. This is our biggest month and my guess is it's similar to last year. But overall we're not doing as well as we did in 1992."
The Community Services Council, which operates several programs including the Utah Food Bank, "cleaned up" with appeals in November for Thanksgiving meats such as turkey. But general food donations are smaller and the food bank is being very careful with daily staple items, according to council director Richard K. Winters.
"Still, I would be hard put to say we're being shorted. We were down coming into Thanksgiving, but people have really responded beautifully. At the worst, we're doing about the same and probably a little better (than last year)."