The second safety net.

There is a growing body of opinion that believes that as government support diminishes the community's social capital will be released. This so-called "Third Force" is made up of volunteers who toil for non-profit, self-help groups 

As holes appear in the social safety net, the voluntary sector is trying to set up a second safety net to catch those who fall through the first one.

So, we've seen food banks become a growth industry. Churches open their doors in winter so the homeless have somewhere to sleep. Individuals perform a million acts of kindness for an elderly neighbour or an unknown vagrant on the street. These are all charitable acts; things that are done by people to help other people without financial gain.

There seems to be some expectation on the part of government that community groups stand ready and waiting to help. This, says Christopher Pinney of the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, is a false hope because there's a shortage of the two things charities need most - money and time. Mr. Pinney points out that average Canadian family incomes have been shrinking for several years and that household debts are at an all-time high. And, most Canadian families now have two working parents who are so busy they have little free time - it's called time-poverty.

What's needed if the volunteer sector is going to step in is a long transition period; time for organizations to gear up to meet the demand. Unfortunately, the cuts are coming fast and furious, and many charities are being swamped.

It's impossible to imagine Canada without charities. There are more than 71,000 of them registered with the government and they employ twice as many Canadians as the construction industry. Charities contribute as much to Canada's economy as the entire province of British Columbia. However, impressive as these statistics are, theirs is not an easy task and it's getting more difficult.

Canada's volunteer sector is pitifully short of the resources it needs to do the job. The Kids Help Phone runs ads pointing out that it gets 4,000 calls a day from children with problems, but it only has enough money to answer 1,500 of them. Conservative estimates are that 100,000 children go to school each day without breakfast. Charities try to feed as many of these as they can because as one program says in its ads: "You can't feed a hungry mind on an empty stomach." Meals provided by the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton were not as festive in 1995 as in previous years. A total of 16,500 people asked for the agency's help, but the Bureau collected only enough money to feed 14,000. The butter had to be spread a little more thinly to make it go around.

Most charities have relied on government grants for a substantial part of their funding. But, the government has closed its cheque book so charities must get more and more of their operating funds from the general public. But, this is an enormous task. Charities get more than half their funding from government, a little over 10% of it from individual donations, only one or two percent from corporate gifts. So, a modest cut in government grants must be made up for by a massive increase in private donations. The charities are knocking on our front doors asking for donations at the same time as everybody else from arts groups, to schools, to hospitals are rattling their tin cups.

And, the trend is not good. Fewer people are donating to charity; the number has been declining steadily since the mid-1980s. However, there is some good news - the people who are still giving are giving more. But, the charities say fund-raising is getting harder and harder. Judi Cohen, president of the Invest in Kids Foundation says: "...People have much less in terms of disposable money than they used to and the non-profit sector has grown so much..." In fact, between 1993 and 1994, the number of charities in Canada grew by 2.4% while donations to them went up by only one percent. Year after year, Newfoundlanders lead the way. Ifs a province with one of the lowest average incomes, yet the people on "The Rock" always give more to charity than anybody else. In 1994, the median donation in Newfoundland was $250, set against a national figure of $150.

Perhaps, continued hard times in the rest of the country will spark a new era of generosity among those who may be better off than they think.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. An increasing number of churches and synagogues in Canada are making some form of community service mandatory as part of the confirmation and bar or bat mitzvah process. Programs such as reading in a heritage language to young children, teaching the mentally handicapped to skate, visiting shut-ins, snow-shovelling for the elderly are typical activities. Discuss with your principal the idea of community service programs forming part of a school graduation process.

2. The city of Kingston, Ontario, among others, has passed a bylaw banning street begging. Discuss the pros and cons of this action.