By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

For some West Volusia charities, aftershocks from the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti have come in the form of reduced donations.

However, that’s a minor part of the tsunami of stress currently affecting local nonprofit agencies.

Besides the earthquake in one of the poorest nations in the world, there is a rising tide of unemployment and poverty on the homefront.

Volusia County, according to official reports, has an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent, while the national rate is about 9.7 percent.

“Our donations have not increased. It’s not just Haiti,” said Charity Vickers, executive director of Community Life, a faith-based charity in Deltona. “The economy’s just a really bad thing right now. I’m glad people are helping Haiti.”

Vickers said Community Life’s contributions are down 50 percent so far this year, in comparison to the same period for 2009.

“The people that were giving $5, $10 or $20 a month lost their jobs,” Vickers said.

Deltona, with an epidemic of home foreclosures, has more people sliding to the brink of poverty. Community Life has rendered aid to 3 percent, or about 2,500, of Deltona’s 85,000 residents.

Shortages of money and food are affecting charities and families in these weeks after Christmas, when many people are struggling to pay holiday bills.

Adding to the stress is the unusually cold winter of 2010, which has drained dollars from households.

“Our utility bills have increased quite a bit, primarily electric,” Faith at Work Director Dennis Weir said.

Faith at Work is the outreach ministry of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in DeLand.

“The bills are higher this month,” Weir said. “They’re having difficulty paying this month’s bill.”

Susan Clark, executive director of The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia, echoed Weir’s comments, and said county government is helping.

“The bills are astronomical,” Clark told The Beacon. “The county has received some stimulus money for what is called the winter crisis. We’re working colIaboratively.”

Faith at Work, The Neighborhood Center and First Assembly-DeLand all said the rush of donations to help Haiti has not significantly reduced their income — at least, not yet.

“We don’t see any effect from the Haiti situation. Everything seems to be typical in terms of donations,” Clark said.

First Assembly maintains a pantry for the needy made possible by a faithful flock of givers. Pastor Mike Modica said the church has had enough to share.

“God has been gracious to us,” he said. “We received a special offering the first Sunday after the Haiti earthquake, and we sent it to Convoy of Hope.”

While donations to support the food pantry are holding up, Modica said the demand for help is clearly rising.

“We have seen an increase. We are giving away 4 tons [of food] per month,” he said. “Beside our own needy from this area, we are seeing more people from the North, and it’s traumatizing our system. People say, ‘Let’s go to Florida, because at least it’s warm down there.’”

Capt. Vilma Rodriguez, of the West Volusia Corps of the Salvation Army, reported a similar rise in the tide of requests for help. She also said donations are beginning to slow, in the wake of the Haiti disaster.

The DeLand unit of the Salvation Army has a shortage of food. Coupled with increasing demand, that means more careful rationing.

“We may give them whatever we have left, but it’s not as much as we used to,” Rodriguez said.

http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/2425

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