Charity may not be able to serve all needy families
Gilroy – For Robert Viquez, the jingling of Salvation Army bells sounds more and more like an alarm. With little more than a week to spare, the charity is scraping for toys and spare change, having earned less than half of its $70,000 goal.
“Help! Please!” the Salvation Army employee jokes, then sobers: “Next week is our distribution day, and we’re hoping for a miracle.”
More than 400 families will receive gifts and assistance from the Salvation Army next Thursday and Friday, but unless the tide changes, many will plod home empty-handed. Turkeys and canned food have flocked to the charity’s pantry, but toys are scarce, said Ellen Torchio, Social Services director.
Even an annual telethon, jointly organized by the Salvation Army and KSBW-TV in Salinas, failed to yield donations: the Gilroy office earned only $1,000 and got 69 toys, Viquez said. For the second year, Gilroy has fallen behind other Central Coast Salvation Army offices, Torchio said, and is currently falling short even of last year’s total of $53,000, having earned $32,000 thus far.
The charity has been hampered locally by limits on where it can ring its bells. The Kettle Campaign, whose seasonal bells are loved by some and loathed by others, hasn’t made it to the outlets.
After a misunderstanding between the charity and Chelsea Property Group, which owns the stores, the local Salvation Army assumed they couldn’t ring their bells there. Torchio later learned that a national agreement between Chelsea’s parent company, Simon Property Group, and the Salvation Army allows bell-ringers to collect there. Chelsea representatives say they’d love to host the charity. But by the time the charity found out, said Torchio, it was too late for the group to apply.
The question of where the charity can ring its bells is moot, added Torchio, if there aren’t enough people to ring them. Currently, the Salvation Army has 20 kettle workers, each of whom work 40 hours a week, and who earn $7.50 an hour. Volunteers, who ring the bell for free, save the charity $60 a day in wages, Torchio said. In some cities, clubs and organizations compete to see who can raise more at the kettle; last month, Wal-Mart managers nationwide took on the job for a day.
But Gilroy depends mostly on paid kettle workers, many of whom are otherwise unemployed, Torchio explained. It’s a boon to seasonal workers, such as farm laborers, whose jobs end with the harvest.
The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, which features kids’ toy requests, is another way people can donate. Torchio said many of the ‘angels’ have been taken, but the toys have yet to roll in, and they need to be brought in by Dec. 20.
As distribution day looms, Viquez is getting anxious. He offers feeble guesses as to why Gilroy hasn’t given. Maybe people haven’t realized it’s almost time, he says. Maybe they’re dealing with rent checks or covering their heating bills.
