Charities feel effects of faraway disasters.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Lynn Antis is not the kind of guy who seeks out scapegoats, but he still points a finger when looking over the smaller-than-usual piles of donated goods in the Eugene Mission's staging area.

"Blame it on the hurricane," Antis said, referring to the outpouring of donated goods and money that flowed to the Gulf Coast states in the aftermath of Katrina's August fury.

As it does every December, the Eugene Mission is soliciting donations of food for a giant Christmas dinner and warm clothes and toiletries for as many as 350 Christmas boxes.

"But our donations are clearly down from past years," said Antis, the mission's assistant director. "If we don't get enough items, we'll go out and buy them. Right now, we don't have the hams for our ham dinner."

By any measure, it's been a year of immense challenges for relief groups nationwide, and donors have responded. The year began with Americans pitching in to help faraway victims of the tsunami; those private gifts added up to $1.6 billion. Later came Katrina, the nation's worst natural disaster of modern times, prompting donations that are nearing the $3 billion mark.

A number of area nonprofit agencies - though by no means all - are reporting a slide in holiday donations this season. Conventional wisdom holds that many people have succumbed to "donor fatigue" after already responding to pleas to help the survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other natural disasters.

But is that really the reason? "I think it is, although as to how much, it's hard to say," Antis said. It's harder to blame reduced giving on an economy that is reportedly improved from past years, Antis said. Then again, early cold weather and high energy bills may be playing a role, he said.

Nationally, larger charities are reporting that end-of-year giving is generally strong, although some charities remain worried because they have more needy people to serve. That phenomenon holds true locally as well.

The number of people seeking refuge at the mission is not going down. "We're seeing numbers now that we don't normally see until January or February," he said.

At FOOD for Lane County, food solicitor Deb Buchanan said the Katrina factor has been unmistakable.

Because of the hurricane, "our food drives started way later than normally," she said. "We're trying to make up for lost ground. We've probably raised six months worth of food in less than two months."

But the agency is having to improvise to keep up with demand, she said. For example, emergency food boxes that used to be stocked with enough supplies to carry a family three to five days are now stocked with only enough items to last two or three days.

The number of food boxes provided to families, meanwhile, continues to climb - up 18 percent in three years to 90,000 this past fiscal year, Buchanan said.

Like advocates at other agencies, Buchanan is careful not to imply that "donor fatigue" is anyone's fault. She voices concern about high wintertime electric bills and notes that many of the area's newest jobs are either seasonal or low-wage.

Despite such realities, local grocers, businesses and residents have come through impressively, Buchanan said. Local donations now make up more than half of all the food tonnage donated to FOOD for Lane County, while state and federal contributions have plummeted.

"We've still got a long winter ahead of us," Buchanan said. "So far, we're just barely keeping up with the need - and that is thanks to local resources."

At the Salvation Army in Eugene, Maj. Joe Murray doesn't fault anyone's generosity directed at hurricane victims - he himself traveled to Lufkin, Texas, in September to help hurricane refugees. But he acknowledges that there may be a connection between the hurricanes and how many coins local residents feel able to drop into Salvation Army bell-ringers' red kettles - change that helps fill holiday food baskets for more than 300 families.

"We had a good Thanksgiving week, but we were down 1 percent the next week and 5 percent last week," he said. "We'll keep the bell-ringers out in hopes of at least breaking even with last year."

Some agencies say they are grateful for responses that have equaled or even exceeded past years' efforts.

"We are going gangbusters," said Robin Babb, a volunteer with the Assistance League of Eugene, which sells donated clothing at its Willamette Street thrift shop and uses the proceeds to buy new clothes for low-income children. "Sales are really up."

Nancy NesSmith, with Home Instead Senior Care's "Be a Santa to a Senior" campaign, said the group expects to double its outreach from a year ago by delivering more than 1,000 gifts to needy and isolated seniors throughout Lane County.

The economic times do not appear to have sidetracked United Way of Lane County's annual campaign, spokeswoman Cherie Kistner said. The umbrella agency has reached about 75 percent of its record $5.034 million fundraising goal, which it expects to nearly reach or meet when its annual campaign wraps up in mid-January, Kistner said.

United Way has, however, noticed donor fatigue surface in a different way: More and more people, Kistner said, report feeling overwhelmed by the growing number of pleas for help.

"We're hearing from people saying, `Every time I turn around there's another request - how do I choose who to give to?' ' said Kistner. "We've started giving advice: Sit down with your family and find an opportunity that fits with your family's ideals and priorities."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HOW TO HELP

Look for a comprehensive Holiday Wish List in the City/Region section of Sunday's Register-Guard.

CAPTION(S):

Lynn Antis of the Eugene Mission says donations have not filled as many gift boxes as last year.