Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 6, 1992 TAG: 9201060060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BAD TIMES BRING OUT GENEROSITY
Despite bad economic times, area agencies that help the needy reported healthy fund-raising efforts during the holiday season.In fact, several Roanoke agencies contacted last week said they either raised more money than they had a year earlier or surpassed their set fund-raising goal.
"It was much better than we expected," said Salvation Army spokeswoman Beth Rilee.
As of Dec. 28, the Salvation Army had raised about $351,000 - a 14 percent increase over last year's holiday drive, Rilee said.
The organization's direct-mail drive brought in $225,000, 11.7 percent more than a year earlier.
A larger jump came in "kettle" fund raising - the classic Salvation Army technique where people stand outside stores with bells and red kettles collecting money.
That brought in $126,000 at 25 locations around Roanoke, Rilee said. That was nearly 20 percent more money than was raised that way a year earlier.
"That was a huge jump," Rilee said.
In part, the increase was due to having more locations for kettles, she said.
And, while people may have been more worried about their own money situations this year, she said, they were also more conscious of people less fortunate than themselves.
"People realized that there are a lot out there who need help," Rilee said.
Rilee was also surprised by another trend: people seem to have given larger chunks of money, as opposed to more people giving smaller sums.
Coordinators of the Good Neighbors Fund, which pays for emergency financial, fuel and medical help for people in need, observed a similar pattern.
That fund, sponsored by the Roanoke Times & World-News, had received a record $122,484.83 as of last Friday.
At the Rescue Mission of Roanoke, no final statistics were available, but Christmas fund raising was believed to have been more successful than in 1990.
"Everything did better this year than a year ago," said development director Joy Sylvester-Johnson.
Under the mission's drive, people could donate cash - in the names of friends or relatives - to pay for meals and housing for the needy.
The area's United Way drive made 99 percent of its almost $4.7 million goal, according to Linda Holsinger, vice president of marketing and communications.
That campaign, which ran from September to the end of the year, raised $4.65 million for the agencies it supports. That was $150,000 more than the United Way's 1990 goal.
"We're doing as well as or slightly better than United Ways across the country," Holsinger said.
Participation in the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots campaign was about steady with last year, according to coordinator Debby Foley.
But the quality - and cost - of the toys donated for needy children was generally higher, she said. Tonka trucks and Barbie dolls were given instead of cheaper products, she said.
"I was really surprised this year," Foley said.
At Appalachian Power Co., the Neighbor-to-Neighbor fund had raised slightly less than it had at the same time a year earlier.
The matching fund, which helps people in need pay for electricity, had raised $158,784 as of last week.
By the week of Christmas, Roanoke Gas Co.'s Heatshare program had pledges of $27,861, according to a company spokeswoman. That was about $1,000 less than a year earlier.
Still, while donations to some agencies were higher than in past years, the recession has also meant a increased number of people who need food, clothing, shelter and utilities.
Rilee, of the Salvation Army, said the organization helped 20 percent more families in 1991 than it did in 1990.
The Rescue Mission reported a record number of people eating meals there on Christmas Day.