Photos Holiday shoppers Mikala and Tony Captain Tom McComb Tools E-mail this page Print this page Sponsor

Mikala and Tony do some quick budgeting while they Christmas shop at Shopko. Tony’s family was accepted into the Salvation Army gift program based on their income. After Tony completes his shopping, his parents will have a chance to do their own. (MPR Photo/Sea Stachura)

The holiday season is a time when many charities get the bulk of their donations and this year, representatives of many non-profits have held their breath, fearing donor fatigue. While a few charities around the state are struggling, more often than not, donors have come through.

Rochester, Minn. — Every December the Olmstead County Salvation Army matches eight and nine-year olds up with volunteers to go holiday shopping. Each kid has a certain amount to spend, based on the number of people in his family.

Tony is nine years old and he's shopping with Mikala. He has two siblings, a mom and a dad and a live-in uncle. They wander from department to department at Shopko. Tony picks up a necklace for his mom, and Mikala does the budgeting and offers encouragement.

"So these were $2 so we're at $21 right now, so we have about $19 left to spend. Yeah, you're a super shopper man," says Mikala.

Captain Tom McComb of the Olmstead County Salvation Army says money raised in the county stays in the county, just like people.

"No matter what our budget was, no matter how much money we had we could not take those kids shopping unless we had volunteers to come and go one on one with a kid and take them around the store," McComb says. "I believe that those people and there were some volunteers who had never volunteered for the Salvation Army before last night I believe because they got involved they're going to be stronger donors."

People in Olmstead County have a strong history of supporting charities, but this year donations to the Salvation Army are 10 percent behind last year. Like many charities, the Salvation Army raises a third of its annual budget from October through the first of the year. So McComb says the pinch may hurt, but he isn't worried.

In Fargo, the Salvation Army is 23 percent behind its goal for the season. Captain Adam Moore says major donors and unsolicited donors are starkly absent. He says he won't cut programs, but he may need to cut back.

"That may result is a $25 or $50 reduction in what we can pay people to assist with their rent, utilities, for prescription drugs. It may represent a smaller portion when it comes to the 150 to 200 meals that we serve out of our facility here," says Moore.

People in the Fargo-Moorhead region gave generously during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, Moore says, but all of those donations went directly to victims.

"They've responded again amazingly to our other pleas, for the tsunami, for the hurricanes, and now we're going and asking them to support our local programs, I think we would be amiss not to put that into the mix," Moore says.

By serving fewer people the chapter will manage with fewer dollars, but Moore says it's a concern. Just a week earlier the chapter was down 75 percent of his goal. He contacted local media and with a few newspaper articles his numbers changed. The Twin Cities chapter, however, is reporting a shortage of close to one million dollars. Its goal is $6.5 million.

Anxiety over holiday donations isn't widespread at Catholic Charities in St. Cloud. Executive Director Steven Bresnahan says his organization doesn't live and die by the holiday season. That said, he has had to push harder than usual to get donations. More people have asked for help this year. He says the cost of living has made it a challenge to buy gifts and pay bills.

"Wages have not been increasing a whole lot and living costs are going up," says Bresnahan. "I think we'll all start to see it once the fuel bills arrive after this recent cold snap. Certainly the cost of getting to and from work with the cost of gas and stuff has hit people."

That reality has also shown up at food banks. America's Second Harvest provides food to pantries across the United States. Vice President for Communications Phil Zepeda has heard from local food banks that more people are seeking help. He says Second Harvest provided food for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and that did temporarily upset their hunger relief efforts.

"We did see a dip in the amount of food that was given to the regular disaster that is hunger, in our relief around the country. That was a temporary dip and it's essentially corrected itself," says Zepeda. And because of that Zepeda says they'll make their goal this year, but like everyone else, they can always use a little more for those in need.