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With Thanksgiving days away and Christmas soon to follow, hundreds of families who have fallen on tough times are now seeking help from a number of Utah's charitable organizations. The problem, though, is very few of them have the means to help.
It's a problem that's sweeping the nation. Demand for help is way up while donations are down. At the Arc of Utah Gift Box program, a charity that offers gift boxes to the mentally disabled every Christmas, it's slimmer pickings this year.
Joyce Whalen volunteers for Arc of Utah. She said, "Sometimes it's just something little like an ornament that we add to it that makes it special for them."
In five of years of service, Whalen has never seen so much space and so few gifts. Last year, she says, "It would have been completely jam packed with toys and donations from people."
But with the economy in a slump, fewer donations are coming in.
"Last year, for example, we helped 500 people with the gift box program. This year, we expect only about 200 people we can support," she said.
The Arc is no longer accepting applications for the Gift Box program. It's the same story at for Toys for Tots, Angel Tree, and Sub for Santa. The Salvation Army is no longer accepting applications for those three programs. Demand is up 30 percent and there aren't enough donations to meet that.
Still, people like Joyce Whalen remain optimistic. "There's still time," she says. That's the hope, that there's still time for Utahns to come through.
Whalen says there is a fundamental need for clothing and toys. If more gifts don't begin to fill their shelves, she s worries, "Theres's gonna be a lot of disappointed people this year, no doubt. And even those who are getting something are getting a lot less this year I think."
The Arc's Gift Box program is similar to Angel Tree, in that you sponsor someone and shop for various items for them. That's ideally what they're hoping for.
The Arc suggested a few ways to help without spending too much:
- Donate cheap gift cards, like those for fast-food restaurants
- Food from your cupboard
- Older clothes
- You can clean up old toys that aren't being used.
Even if you can't donate an item, the Arc needs volunteers to shop and to bag donated items.
To help, whether it's with donations or volunteers, here are several programs you can get involved with:
- Salvation Army Christmas programs (801) 988-4204
- Arc for Utah's Gift Box program (801) 801-654-8449, 654-8467 or go to arcutah.org
- Salt Lake's stocking stuffer program (801) 972-5708 or go to reachsaltlake.org
E-mail: gkennedy@ksl.com
