The dire need: Agency by agency, those who help others in need are feeling the crunch

Leona Martens looks exhausted as she sits at her desk at the Weld Food Bank surrounded by statistics: 599,048 pounds of food, more than 10,000 people in need.

She must feed them all, even though increasingly more knock on her door as the resources dwindle.

Each number to Martens isn't just part of a great math equation that she has to solve. Each tick mark, instead, is a mouth to feed: an adult, a child, a family who may go hungry if she doesn't work hard enough.

The conspicuously empty shelves at the food bank mean emergency food boxes have less than last year. The food bank also isn't receiving as many supermarket donations as in the past. In only a year, the pounds of food coming in has decreased by 26 percent.

Then there's the funding. The hits seem to be coming from all sides: foundations, government, United Way. All told, the Weld Food Bank, 1108 H. Ave., lost about $98,000 in the past year. Just last month Martens made the tough decision to cut a program that fed more than 300 seniors.

Martens furrows her brow. She knows well the people who went through the Great Depression. "If their food is taken away, they'll do without," she said, noting concern for their health. "Their first reaction is: 'I'll make do.' "

Through her work with dozens of agencies in Weld County, Martens also knows that hers isn't the only nonprofit suffering from cuts.

Assessing the crisis

In the past few months, Judy Knapp, executive director of The Community Foundation, received more and more phone calls. One nonprofit asked about grants, another inquired about trust money. A third, then a fourth, called seeking some solace for financial struggles. When her concern for the health of Weld's nonprofits peaked, she surveyed the organizations. The results, from more than a dozen agencies that responded, were grim.

Organizations reported cuts all around. The Greeley City Council sent letters notifying many that their budgeted contribution is contingent upon money being available in tight year. A new strategy at the United Way of Weld County to redirect funding to target programs resulted a lot less money in the community chest. Some state and federal funds aren't keeping up with inflation and rising costs, or they're going away altogether. And big donors are seemingly tired of the daily requests to sponsor golf tournaments and benefit dinners.

All this comes at a time when need is on the rise. In the past six years, the number of people in poverty rose 73 percent in Greeley and 60 percent in Weld. Emergency food requests to the Weld Food Bank went up 12 percent in one year. There were 38,233 calls to United Way in the past fiscal year.

Ever the optimist, Knapp called a meeting of the minds. She began working on a way to help those who spend most of their waking hours helping others.

Keeping seniors at home

At the Eldergarden Adult Day Program, 910 27th Ave., director Judy VanEgdom relishes the smell of burritos, fresh from the frying pan. The clients are just finishing their lunches and preparing for afternoon activities. They smile with satisfaction when asked about the food prepared for them, unaware that hiring a cook to make fresh meals in-house is a much-needed cost-saving measure.

VanEgdom said she will do what it takes to keep serving her clients. After all, adult day care makes economic sense for families and society. About 26 percent of people resign early to be caregivers, costing them $659,000 in earning power, and that's 1999 wages. By keeping the children of aging parents in the work force and not burdening them with the additional $60,000 to $72,000 for out-of-home placement, Eldergarden preserves economic health in communities.

But the economic health of Eldergarden is VanEgdom's primary concern as she peruses a list of funding cuts. In the past three years, the group has lost $12,281 in United Way funding. Medicaid reimbursements for residents are remaining flat and pay for only about half of the cost.

In searching for more funding, VanEgdom discovered that even the normal donors are being tapped out. A recent new fundraiser Eldergarden hosted barely broke even. And her board of directors refused to up the sponsorship levels for another event, noting Weld's largest givers were already overwhelmed.

"As different agencies lose funding, we're all going after the same bank, cookie maker, car dealer," VanEgdom said.

Indeed, requests come to president Bill Kurtz's desk at Wells Fargo Bank in Greeley almost every day. While Kurtz hasn't noticed a significant increase of late, he said there are far more good causes in Greeley than even his large corporation can support.

Kurtz looks to give to local organizations that impact a large number of people in Weld. He tries to rotate his support between agencies, but he also struggles with how that affects agencies that rely on grants they've received in the past.

VanEgdom said some uncertainty in funding is expected in running a nonprofit. But losing United Way funding that has been coming in the door for 20 years on top of all her other burdens this year means she's scrambling more than usual. The more time VanEgdom and her staff must spend on fundraising, the less time there is to serve the residents.

Rehabilitating the sick

Violet Meis lies with legs outstretched on the couch in her mobile home on the far south side of Greeley. She is surrounded by angels of all kinds -- ceramic, quilted, glass and plastic. But only twice a month, for two hours, another angel comes through her door: her home health assistant who helps her bathe and clean the house.

Meis is a client of the Rehabilitation and Visiting Nurse Association. The organization helps seniors and adults stay in their homes by sending nurses and assistants. Until last May, Meis' assistant came every week, but funding shortfalls forced the association to cut back hours for every client.

At 78, Meis can't get in and out of the shower. She washes but can't take a full bath or set her own hair due to her arthritis. And she hates going to church with her curls amiss.

Meis also can't keep up her home the way she'd like. Her husband, John, does his best to help, but he's blind in one eye and has macular degeneration in the other. They laugh about how he mows down all the flowers when he's caring for the lawn.

Crystal Day, the chief executive officer of the association, said her agency doesn't have a Hollywood story that attracts big donors. It helps people who fall through the cracks: low-income seniors, other adults who suffer medical crises and people with developmental disabilities.

Last year, the group lost 36 percent of its United Way funding. The money went directly to fund patient care, not administrative costs. Day says there's just nowhere else to turn for funding.

Sheltering the homeless

Director Jodi Hartmann gets up from the table three times to answer calls on the intercom. A woman wants to fill out an application for housing, another is dropping off her final paperwork. A resident bounces into the kitchen, phone in hand, beaming that she just got a job.

The Greeley Transitional House, 1206 10th St., which provides a roof for up to 12 families at a time, has been full all summer. In normal years, a couple of rooms are always vacant. But the demand this year on agencies in Weld that offer shelter is untenable. In the past year, United Way turned away 69 requests for housing.

The increased demand comes in a year when the shelter has received $2,500 less in church funding, $15,000 less from foundations and about a $6,000 reduction from United Way money. Next year, Hartmann expects about $48,250 less in funding from her normal sources. By lobbying the city council, she thinks the transitional house has avoided another $12,000 in cuts.

Despite cuts, Hartmann said she is excited that United Way is funding a new program, one that is her own brainchild. The Champions program offers case managers to help people get out of the poverty cycle.

Many of the nonprofits in Weld have seen the scenario, the same people unable to break through the ceiling of poverty, coming back to agencies time and again. In analyzing 12,000 phone calls to United Way, a volunteer found 224 families calling 10 to 12 times a year.

But the long-term goal of reducing poverty overall doesn't eliminate the immediate need many have now for food and shelter.

Aiming for change

On the wall in Jeannine Truswell's United Way office is a plaque quoting Eleanor Roosevelt: "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

Truswell is clearly about ideas, as she explains the organization's new focus on three target areas. After an extensive community needs assessment, United Way is targeting funding toward organizations that help with early childhood, youth development and strengthening families and adults.

Being at the helm of the county's community chest means Truswell also faces tough decisions. To fund new programs that she believes will attack the county's social problems at the root, she had to divert funding from those that provide for the most basic of needs, including Weld Food Bank. The organizations have known for three years that cuts were imminent.

While Martens agrees with the strategy of bringing people out of poverty, there are many who come to the food bank only in emergencies. People such as Sarah Walker, 45, of Greeley. Last April, she came to the food bank for the first time after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She's unable to work, and her military pension makes her over the food stamps qualification by $8 per month. She has a bachelor's degree in English, she served in the Navy for eight years and never thought she would be knocking on Martens' door.

Martens said that in two years, about 75 percent of her clients requested emergency food boxes only four times or fewer.

But Truswell said United Way has not forgotten those organizations that provide for the most basic of needs. Last week, the agency announced funding for the Safety Net, which will fund those agencies providing for the basic needs of residents. The United Way board of directors has committed to funding these organizations with no less than 40 percent of donations to the general fund.

"We made tough decisions, but we didn't abandon them," Truswell said.

Martens, VanEgdom, Hartmann and Day will indeed apply for the Safety Net, although funding from it will not begin until next July. But Truswell said the more United Way can raise in its current campaign, the more her group can give to every organization.

Reaching out

Though times are tough, none of the dedicated nonprofit leaders are talking about shutting down. They're all determined to do what it takes to serve as many people as possible.

"I think most of us spin straw into gold every day," VanEgdom said.

One of the strategies is to work to broaden the base of support for local charities. To her powwow with nonprofit directors, Knapp invited a nonprofit expert from Denver to speak about advertising Weld's need to metro area foundations with money to give. Truswell also works to improve giving among individuals.

Colorado ranks 42nd among the 50 states in charitable giving. Although Coloradans earn 8 percent more than the national average, they donate 7 percent less. The Colorado Generosity Project, on whose board Truswell serves, is working to change that.

During a survey, the project found that the No. 1 reason people don't give is that they don't trust. So the organization is developing a seal of approval for nonprofits to certify organizations as donation-worthy, as United Way does with its partner agencies. The group also will create a campaign encouraging people to give more.

All of the nonprofit directors said the community needs to realize the issues facing its own people. Almost one in every four people in Greeley lives in poverty, a fact Hartmann used to spur city leaders to take action. But she said her presentation got no response.

Truswell said she also believes that many Weld residents go from their homes to work and don't see the problems in their own community.

"We can go about our day and not see the need in this city, but it is significant," Truswell said.

Hartmann also emphasized that it is people from this community who are suffering, not illegal immigrants as she has heard argued. In two years, the organization has taken almost 800 applications and served one person who was living in the United States illegally, as his wife and children were legal residents.

And 60 percent of the people who come to her door already have jobs.

"There has to be some kind of responsibility we have to our own people," Hartmann said. "It's hard to make it."

How to give

» United Way of Weld County. Money donated to United Way of Weld County can be designated for specific organizations, categories or the general fund. Donate online at www.unitedway-weld.org or call (970) 353-4300.

» Greeley Transitional House. Send checks to 1206 10th St., Greeley, CO 80631 or call (970) 352-3215.

» Weld Food Bank. Donate online at www.weldfoodbank.org or call Troy Norgren, 356-2199, Ext. 304.

» Eldergarden. To donate time or money call (970) 353-5003 or go to www.eldergarden.org.

» Rehabilitation and Visiting Nurse Association.Go to www.rvna.info/ or call (970) 330-5655.