Donations, need are up in Mat-Su

MAT-SU -- Donations were up at area food banks and at the Salvation Army, but organizers say the rise in donations has been accompanied by a nearly equal corresponding rise in need.

Susannah Morgan, director of the Food Bank of Alaska, said she believes that, in a slow economy, people tend to prioritize their donations. Fortunately, she said, donations to groups such as the Food Bank, Salvation Army and other needs-based groups tend to be higher on the list of priorities than other non-profits.

"It's my feeling that, when the economy slows, people give to the very basic services," Morgan said.

Morgan said U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that food security has been shrinking, meaning people are less secure in the knowledge that they know where their next meal is coming from. In Alaska, between 1996 and 1998, food insecurity was ranked at 8.7 percent. More recently, she said, that number has gone up.

"Between 1999 and 2001, 11 percent of the population is not sure where their next meal is coming from," Morgan said. "More and more people are coming to us who have jobs and just can't meet their needs."

When asked if she saw trends in where the need was coming from, Morgan had a few ideas.

"I personally believe that it's directly related to the increase in housing costs and the continuing problem that we have with fishing and subsistence issues," Morgan said.

State labor economist Neal Fried said, while the economy in the Valley has stayed fairly flat, the population has continued to grow. He said it may be possible the economy is not growing as fast as the population -- or that the number of people who need assistance is simply rising in conjunction with the population.

Dee Loesche, director of member services for the Wasilla Area Seniors Inc., said she believed some of the rise in need stemmed from new people moving to the Valley. She said she's seen a rise in numbers of Russian families on their rolls in the past few years. The food bank at WASI operates through Food Bank of Alaska, collecting food locally and providing administrative help.

This year, Loesche said, more families were given baskets than initially expected. Donations were up, she said, which was helpful because of the added numbers. Last year, 150 baskets were given to families, and the group expected to give out the same number this year, but Loesche said 159 baskets were distributed instead.

Although the numbers don't seem significantly higher, Loesche said it's a trend the bank has been tracking. Six years ago, she said, the seniors' food bank served 79 families each month.

"Now we're over 300 a month," Loesche said.

Henry Guinotte, director of the Palmer Food Bank, said donations in Palmer remained level while the number of families served went up -- 20 percent for Thanksgiving, he said, and about 25 percent for Christmas.

Guinotte said he guessed some of the need stemmed from timing -- this was the end of the fifth and final year some families would be eligible for federal assistance. But other factors, such as the lack of snow for those who compliment their income by shoveling snow or plowing driveways, could have meant added difficulties this year.

Captain Rhonda Saunders heads the Mat-Su Valley Corps and said their donations -- both in the Christmas kettles and to their food bank -- were up by about nine percent this season. And so were the number of people in need of assistance.

"They don't quite balance each other out," Saunders said.

This year, Saunders said, the Salvation Army served 348 families -- about 1,500 people. That's about 50 more families than were served last year, she said -- and some of those families have as many as 16 members.

The Salvation Army, she said, serves the whole Mat-Su and relies heavily on food drives held by area schools and non-profit organizations to stock its shelves.

"The community is very supportive," Saunders said. "At Thanksgiving we put out a [public service announcement] to say we're in need of more food donations."

The community responded, she said, and a number of schools held food drives in response -- enough to fill a whole van, Saunders said, adding that the Salvation Army always welcomes food drive efforts from local schools.

This year, she said, she has been especially proud of the community response in donations. Because of changes in management policies, she said, key kettle locations -- Wal-Mart and Carrs -- were only available in restricted form.

Denali Management, who oversees who can raise money or sell things at the Palmer, Wasilla and other Carrs locations, recently changed their stipulations.

"They decided that organizations who request to raise money or sell things out in front of their locations be limited to seven days a year," Saunders said, adding that other stipulations applied as well. Last year, she said, bell-ringers were at Wasilla and Palmer Carrs locations all month.

Similarly, Saunders said, Wal-Mart officials agreed to limit organizations to 14 days of collection time, a decision applied nationwide.

"We were thinking it was going to bring down our money," Saunders said, "but people gave more when they walked by a kettle."

Saunders said she suspected word had gotten around that kettles would be more scarce this year, so people gave more money, but on a less frequent basis. It helped, she said, to have one kettle that traditionally remains nearly empty take in several times over its normal amount. The kettle, she said, was at Cottonwood Creek Mall and is generally unmanned, situated next to the angel tree. This year, she said, the Colony High Junior ROTC manned the kettle at one time, and several events were coordinated by the Army, such as a performance by the Mat-Su String Orchestra, to help bring in more donations.

Although she didn't have hard numbers yet, the season was by and large successful, Saunders said.

"Even though we lost some of our time at special locations," Saunders said, "we were totally blessed."