On Thanksgiving Day, when turkeys are being stuffed in gourmet kitchens all over the metropolitan Washington area, some of our neighbors will be wondering where their next meal is coming from — or whether they’ll still have a roof over their heads by Christmas.
During this high-unemployment recession, losing a job quickly dominoes into a lost home, a repossessed car, and an empty savings account. Hitting bottom often precipitates an emotional crisis for previously self-sufficient, productive citizens who never had to beg before.
In 2008, just as the housing market was melting down, the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region (cfncr.org) — the largest funder of nonprofit groups in the Washington region — became so concerned about the growing numbers of local residents caught in this downward cycle that they created the Neighbors in Need program.
“Our original focus was just on the basics: food, shelter and clothing,” foundation spokeswoman Janice Kaplan told The Examiner. “Over time, we collected more money from individual donors and large corporations, and we expanded our offerings to include foreclosure prevention, help with prescription medication and mental health services.”
The stories are all heartbreaking.
Between 2009 and 2010, Northern Virginia Family Services — one of about 100 nonprofit service organizations that receive funding from the foundation — had to double the amount of groceries it handed out at its Manassas food distribution center. Workers at the Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg spotted families waiting in line for a handout that just two years ago were the ones donating food for the needy.
Some of the misery is due to the bad economy and rotten luck, such as the working couple who fell behind on their rent after the wife lost her job and soon found themselves living in their car. But in other cases, people are being tossed out of their homes for far less than what it would cost taxpayers to house them in a homeless shelter.
For example, one bank refused to accept late payment for a home equity loan that was less than $1,000 in arrears and initiated foreclosure against a home that had sheltered a D.C. family for two generations.
After being released from the hospital, a grandmother caring for two young grandsons was swindled by her former employer, an attorney, who promised to lend her money to avoid foreclosure but instead had her sign papers that increased her debt while handing ownership of her home over to his company. The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, a foundation recipient, finally convinced a judge to cancel the crooked deal and helped the grandmother get a permanent modification of her mortgage.
“We’ve been living and breathing this for two years,” Kaplan says. “When people lose a job, their whole life unravels. It completely comes undone.”
The foundation has raised nearly $5 million from individuals, families, corporations and other foundations and given away $3.6 million so far to local organizations that help the poor and the newly poor. But never in the foundation’s 37-year history, Kaplan says, have things been as bad as they are now.
Foundation officials are calling 2011 the “Year of Giving” to encourage private donations beyond the holiday period, especially with more budget cuts looming at the local, state and federal level.
When revenue declines and government budgets must be cut, the moral obligation to care for the poor and destitute doesn’t go away. It falls on members of the private sector to fill in the gaps. But generosity is a funny thing. You never feel better about yourself than right after you’ve given until it hurts.
Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.
