Donations for school in short supply.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

This just never happens.

The school supply cupboard is bare at Centro LatinoAmericano.

While donations of school supplies never cover the community's need completely, the shortfall is growing, officials at a number of local nonprofit agencies say.

At St. Vincent de Paul in Eugene, 200 families are on a waiting list and 300 others were turned away when they sought help getting donated school supplies.

In spite of big contributions from several community groups and businesses, the Springfield/Marcola Family Resources Centers have 100 families on a waiting list for school supplies.

The charitable groups say cuts in government programs for low-income families, higher fuel costs and a soft local job market feed the need for donated school supplies.

For example, money ran out in April for a county-funded rent support program for low-income families that used to run through November, said Sascha Cosio, donation and volunteer coordinator at Centro La- tinoAmericano. When families have to cut back, school supplies are usually the first thing to go, she said.

Meanwhile, schools are pinching their budgets and asking families to supply more of their own pens, pencils, erasers, even Kleenex, Cosio said.

At the same time, donations of school supplies that used to flood local agencies are drying up. Families who contributed school supplies in the past are now calling to seek help themselves, said Gloria Griffith, project coordinator for Springfield/Marcola Family Resources Centers.

And a new group of needy families is emerging - children of National Guard soldiers deployed in Iraq, said Roxanne O'Brien, social services supervisor for St. Vincent de Paul.

"It's really strange," O'Brien said. "We didn't even run out last year. This year, we had to turn people away the first day. We see a lot of first-timers, families who have never asked for help."

Centro LatinoAmericano officials, who don't include a school supply program among the agency's 16 services, usually don't even ask for donations. They just come, Cosio said.

"As far as I know, this is the first year we've opened our donation closet and it's empty. We usually get enough we end up passing it out year-round. This year, we just got nothing," she said.

It's not that the community isn't trying, Griffith said.

Springfield city employees, the Elks, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Northwest Community Credit Union, Weyerhaeuser and Office Depot showered the family resource centers with school supplies, she said. Still, it isn't enough.

Although the agency has handed grocery bags of school supplies to 400 needy families, another 100 are on a waiting list.

"We have some extremely generous people in our community. A lot of people have tried hard and have given a lot," she said. "The problem is there is such a huge need."

SCHOOL SUPPLY SHORTAGE:

Agencies that provide school supplies to low-income families need donations of binders, calculators, scissors, glue sticks, pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, backpacks, crayons and other supplies.

Donations: School supplies can be left in barrels at Eugene or Springfield Bi-Mart stores, Jerry's Home Improvement Centers, Office Depots, Wal-Marts, Wild Oats Marketplaces or, in Springfield, Fred Meyer or Pacific Cascade Bank on M Street. St. Vincent de Paul also takes donations at any of its centers and stores, as do Centro LatinoAmericano and Springfield/Marcola Family Resource Centers.

Contributions: Cash contributions for school supplies can be made to: St. Vincent de Paul, c/o school supplies, P.O. Box 24608, Eugene, 97402; Centro LatinoAmericano, 944 W. Fifth Ave., Eugene, 97402; or Springfield/Marcola Family Resources Centers, 1030 G St., Springfield, 97477

- The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

Sascha Cosio, donation and volunteer coordinator at Centro LatinoAmericano, looks over the two backpacks and the other limited school supplies in the agency's storage closet. When families have to cut back, school supplies usually are the first thing to go, she says.