Donations decrease as need rises

Downsizings and plant closings have made the need greater.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Leaders of local organizations serving needy people report large increases in the number of people receiving assistance.
They attribute the increase largely to layoffs stemming from local plant closings and downsizings, and also to strikes.
"In an economic downturn, the poor are the first to suffer, and they're the last to recover because they're the first to be victims of job loss and they're also dependent upon the tax base. It takes awhile for that to come back," said Melinda Holsopple, director of the Way Station in Columbiana. "The investors start to recognize prosperity a lot quicker than people who are making minimum wages," she said.
From givers to takers
Some people who were donors in previous years are among the recipients of charity, according to Holsopple and Robert Kramer of the Salvation Army in Warren.
The need for assistance has grown over the past year at the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley in Youngstown based on comparisons of the last two fiscal years. Meals served there went from 145,083 in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2002, to 174,096 in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2003. In those years, overnight stays numbered 23,703 and 25,529, respectively.
Limited donations
The Rev. David Sherrard, the mission's executive director, also reported an increase of about 30 percent in food baskets distributed from fiscal 2002 to 2003. Because of limited donated supplies, recipients are limited to one food basket every four months, he said.
The Rev. Mr. Sherrard was the only one who said an economic recovery appears to have begun, and he based that statement on a slight increase in early donations this holiday season. The mission relies on donations from individuals and businesses, and it gets no government funding.
"The generosity from this community is absolutely awesome. I have to commend this community for caring for those that are less fortunate," Mr. Sherrard said.
List of families
Holsopple said her agency already has 278 recipient families on the adopt-a-family list this holiday season, compared with 92 served last year. In this program, donors provide a food-and-gift basket to the needy families they adopt. The agency gave school supplies to 706 children this year, compared with 125 last year.
"I attribute it [the increase in need] to a faltering economy. Columbiana County has been hit hard," by plant closings and staff reductions, Holsopple said. Another contributor to the demand for charitable assistance is the three-year eligibility limit under welfare reform, she said.
"The community is stepping up," to meet the need for assistance to poor people, Holsopple added. "I see the community taking care of its own," she said.
Joe Lordi, director of the Gleaners Foodbank in Youngstown, reported 450 to 500 people a week are coming to his agency for assistance, up about 30 percent over the past two years. He attributes this mainly to layoffs because of companies downsizing or going out of business. Strikers from Astro Shapes in Struthers have also come to his agency for help, he said.
Very little new industry is coming into this community, he said. "Thank God we have [General Motors] Lordstown and the hospitals," he said. A major problem here is the large number of unemployed men in their late 50s, who are being discriminated against because of their age or because they are overqualified for some jobs, but are still too young for Social Security retirement, he observed. The number of laid off people in their late 50s seems to have doubled here in the last five years, he observed.
Thanksgiving dinners
The agency, which relies on private donations and gets no government support, will provide free dinners between noon and 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at the Byzantine Catholic Center, 3801 Shady Run Road, and from noon to 2 p.m. Christmas Day at St. Patrick Church, 1410 Oak Hill Ave.
Kramer said kettle donations in the first 21/2 weeks of the Salvation Army's Warren area kettle campaign are down from about $11,000 last year to $6,900 this year.
A little more than 700 families received Christmas gift packages last year, and 900 are already on the list for them this year, with a potential for adding another 100, Kramer said. Each child generally gets three to six new toys under this program, he said. "There's a greater need for assistance this year than over the last three years at least. I believe the biggest reason would be recent layoffs, strikes, the economy," he said.
If any economic recovery is occurring, it's not in manufacturing jobs; rather it seems to be in the service sector, he said. "It seems to be happening quite slowly here if it is taking place," he concluded.
Mike Iberis, executive director of the Second Harvest Foodbank in Youngstown, which provides food to 200 local food pantries and soup kitchens, confirmed the observations of the direct service agency directors.
Decline in donations
The food bank has experienced a decline of about 15 percent in donations of food and cash over the past year, while the agencies it supplies have reported about a 30-percent increase in demand for food assistance as a result of job losses in the weak economy, Iberis said. "Most of the people in food lines are the working poor. One in four is a child," he observed.
Food supplies are down because improved manufacturing efficiencies have resulted in fewer blemished products, which are unacceptable to retailers, but which are donated to food banks, Iberis explained.