NONPROFIT CENTERS FEEL ENERGY PINCH EDISON DISCONTINUES CHARITABLE DONATIONS.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

Homeless shelters, food banks and senior day-care centers in Ventura County have felt the pinch of the energy crisis since Southern California Edison pulled the plug on its charitable donations.

The utility giant was forced to suspend its donations to the United Way and other charities in November as it reined in escalating costs brought on by a deregulated energy market.

``There is a significant impact,'' said Sheryl Wiley Solomon, president of the local United Way Foundation, which serves 53 nonprofit organizations countywide. ``There has been a $50,000 corporate gift from SCE going back at least four years. And before this crisis, we had expected there would be a similar gift this year.''

To show how much $50,000 provides, Solomon said FOOD Share Inc. could feed 27 hungry children three meals a day for a year through its Oxnard food bank. The Boys & Girls Club of Ventura County could cover the membership dues for 4,000 youths.

United Way already had expected $400,000 less in corporate donations this year because of downsizing and companies moving out of the area, and Edison's suspension just exacerbated the problem, Solomon said.

Parent company Edison International donates to 2,500 nonprofit organizations in the nation, said SCE spokesman Tom Boyd. Last year the utility giant doled out $7.6 million and its employees pledged an additional $3.2 million through payroll deduction plans.

``We had to begin cost-containment measures,'' Boyd said. ``One thing people seemed to overlook is, even though we've suspended corporate contributions, our employees are still contributing from their own paycheck.''

In addition, Boyd said, Edison employees donate countless hours to organizations in the Southland, doing everything form coaching athletic teams to tutoring local schoolchildren.

Solomon said SCE employees last year donated $70,000 to the local United Way, but that amount was expected to drop this year because about 2,000 of the company's 13,000 jobs have been eliminated.

``Obviously, when an employer is in a downsize mode, employees have a great deal of anxiety with their job,'' she said. ``They are less prone to have a major contribution being taken out of their check, even if it's for a very good cause.''

In an attempt to meet its $5.7 million goal set for the 2000-01 campaign, United Way turned to two strategies - focusing its campaigns on small- and medium-size companies and appealing to its regular ``leadership'' donors, those who give $1,000 or more, to dig a little deeper into their pockets, she said.

Lutheran Social Services in Thousand Oaks, which offers a host of services including a winter utility assistance funded by United Way, is seeing a different impact from the shake-up in the utility industry.

``We are seeing a number of clients who can't make it through the month because their utility bills are so high,'' said J.R. Jones, program director. He noted the utility fund, which is supposed to last through April 30, was halfway depleted within three days of the program's opening.

Jones said the normal monthly client load of 500 has increased to 750 people seeking help, including senior citizens on fixed incomes who must decide between buying food or paying their utility bill.

``(We've seen) a lot of first-time people who don't usually come into an agency like ours.''