Season of giving could prove harsh for charities
While their plight is understandable, area charities face more obstacles than ever before.
The recession has finally hit the Highland Lakes. Though the area still remains somewhat isolated from the all-out financial storm battering other parts of the country, the Highland Lakes have not escaped unscathed.
Stores and restaurants have closed along Main Street in Marble Falls, consumer spending is down, construction starts and auto sales are dropping, and jobs are being lost at area businesses and small factories.
In addition, government funding cuts have also left some area nonprofits high and dry.
The subprime mortgage-lending crisis and the resulting financial tsunami that swept over Wall Street has hit some residents where where it hurts the most — their bank accounts and 401(k) retirement funds.
Yet the holidays are approaching, and the good people of the Highland Lakes don’t want to see anyone go without. But there are challenges this season unlike any the community has faced in a long time.
The spirit of giving is there, just not the means. This year is different from other years — there is more adversity. Budgets are smaller, money is more scarce and families are doing their best to make ends meet.
During the past year, the cost of utilities has risen, food prices have increased and — at least in Marble Falls — taxes have gone up.
Yet nothing has changed with the needy. They are still with us and they still need assistance.
If anything, there are more folks who need a helping hand than before. And there are just as many nonprofits, all of them doing good work and all of them needing money. They are literally in competition with each other, although some are starting to network again, as they did many years ago.
There are food pantries, toy drives, shoebox drives, outreach groups, Christian-assistance ministries, aid for the elderly, food collections, charities sponsored by law enforcement, charities sponsored by civic clubs, Christmas tree raffles, relays, walks, fundraisers, warm coats … The list just goes on and on.
There are so many choices here in the Highland Lakes, and yet so few dollars this time around. Many are feeling the pinch, and perhaps even a little guilt because they can’t do more. But it’s a sign of the times.
The people in the Highland Lakes are among the most generous on the planet, there’s no doubt about that. The sheer proliferation of nonprofits and charities doing good work is a testament to the giving spirit of the communities anchored around the lower Colorado River. But economic hardship is making giving so much more difficult this season, though the needs are just as great.
How does one choose to give to one charity over another? The decisions about whom to help and whom to deny are hard ones indeed when money is tight and folks are struggling.
There simply isn’t enough money to go around.
On the other hand, when the good-hearted can’t donate money, they can donate their time instead as volunteers. In most cases, that is a gift more lucrative than cash and checks.
Perhaps in the future some of the nonprofits could combine their operations even more, let their networking become intertwined at a deeper, more profound level. The number of folks with their hands out now is bewildering; one almost needs a scorecard to keep the different charities straight.
There is that old chestnut about learning to do more with less, but things don’t always work that way in the real world.
Sadly, this holiday season may be a time where the nonprofits and charity groups adapt to doing less with less, and pin their hopes on a brighter day when the recession has finally passed.