By Lauren McSherry

town crier file photo Los Altos High School senior Elysia Meyers counts money collected for Katrina victims during a school fund-raiser. Officials from local charities say they have experienced a dip in donations because people are choosing to contribute solely to residents from the Gulf Coast region.

As the full impact of the Gulf-region hurricanes and the Pakistan earthquake plays out, local charities are bracing for a dip in donations on the eve of the holiday fund-raising season.

Patricia Bubenick, executive director of the Palo Alto Area American Red Cross Chapter, which serves Los Altos and surrounding cities, is worried that as donations are funneled to disaster areas, not enough money is being designated for chapter operations.

“My main concern right now is the upcoming annual campaign,” she said. “We’ve had several regular donors note that the Katrina donation is their regular donation and that’s it. Donors have notified us that their stock contribution for the year is for Katrina rather than the local chapter,” Bubenik said.

Three sets of fund-raising mailers for chapter operations have been sent out since Aug. 27, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit land. About 51 percent of the donations sent to the chapter have been redirected to Katrina relief, Bubenik said.

“The local chapter is independent in fund raising,” she said. “It relies on donations totally for its existence and ongoing operations.

Since the hurricanes and earthquake, the chapter, which receives no money from the national branch of the Red Cross or the government, has stepped up its programs and hours of operation. It is processing 250 volunteer applications and has deployed 50 volunteers to disaster areas in the Gulf region. It is also handling 90 cases of hurricane evacuees relocated to this area.

An additional concern is the as-yet-unknown toll of increased operations (being open seven days a week) on the chapter’s utility bills and infrastructure.

“It’s not something you normally think about,” she said, “but it is the cost of doing business.”

On the plus side, Bubenik noted the generosity of the community. To date, the chapter has raised $950,000 for hurricane relief and just under $2 million for tsunami relief.

Other charities are also worried about being forgotten.

Second Harvest

Second Harvest Food Bank, a local non-profit that serves 163,500 people each month, is getting fewer food donations this year from America’s Second Harvest, the national umbrella organization that collects and distributes food from major companies such as Kellogg’s and Pillsbury. Those donations are being redirected to disaster areas, leaving a bigger gap to fill at the local level this fall, said Lynn Crocker, communications manager, though she added it’s too early to predict how big the gap will be.

“We’re going to be able to tell in mid-November when we can see where we were last year and make a judgment,” she said.

Similarly, Mike Eldredge, CFO for Wildlife Rescue, reported that membership renewals are down 10 percent to 15 percent, a serious concern since the cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View cut their funding this year.

“We’re hoping it’s a delay,” he said of the funding decrease. “Our board has come back and said, ‘Is this a temporary or permanent change?’ If it’s a structural change, we need to figure out (how) to up our grant capability and get our donors up 50 percent. That would be a pretty Herculean effort.”

CSA

Meanwhile staff at the Community Services Agency, a Mountain View-based non-profit, are thinking strategically about upcoming fund-raisers.

“We are very concerned and we are looking at what might be the impact of decreased funding because of the money going out of the region,” said Tom Myers, executive director.

Myers said the agency saw a similar drop-off in contributions after Sept. 11 and had to make changes within the organization and find money from other sources. Uncovering money from “more diverse sources” might be one strategy to cope with a drop in giving this year, he said.

“Anytime you have a flood of local contributions leave your area, it does cause concern,” he said. “Likewise, we understand the need. If we were ever to have an earthquake here, we would hope the rest of the world would help us out.”