Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 | 9:03 a.m.
The generosity that blossomed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 has waned, but the need for help has not let up, local nonprofit organization officials say.
That is leaving local charities in a tough spot, trying to help more people with fewer resources.
Local agencies estimate that after the attacks Nevadans sent $13 million to $15 million to the national fund-raising efforts to help victims or their families -- $4 million of it filtered through the American Red Cross of Southern Nevada alone. Nationwide it is estimated that $2.7 billion was raised.
As the months passed, the giving diminished -- sometimes below levels before the attacks. At the same time Las Vegas' tourism-based economy was taking a hit, leaving many locals out of work.
"Within two weeks the trend switched from locals giving money to send to victims back East to helping 15,000 local people who were laid off from their jobs," said Trish Williamson, spokeswoman for the local Red Cross chapter, who noted that Las Vegas was among the five cities hardest hit economically by the attacks.
In the year since the disaster, nearly every major charity in town has experienced the same roller-coaster ride of fund-raising: near-record donations in September or October, a significant slack in November as the economic crisis deepened, a strong Christmas season and a flat 2002.
"After that, (donations) just dropped off," he said.
"An organization like ours lives in peaks and valleys with donations," local spokesman Charles Desiderio said. "But this year it has just been flat. We raised more money than the previous year, but the demand to feed more people, pay their utilities, put gasoline in their cars and provide other services was just so much greater than ever before."
"We had a reduction of funding in current programs by an average of 21 percent, and some agencies had reductions above 30 percent for some of its programs," pokeswoman Gena Satori said.
Johnson said the world of the nonprofits mirrored what was going on in the business world as it struggled with a sluggish economy in late fall. It could not have come at a worse time for his agency, which was still building its $1.3 million St. Vincent Plaza to help the homeless, he said.
The business trend also made it hard to ask for more, Desiderio said.
"When donors decided to give us their large annual gift in September to help us meet the demands of the economic downturn, we could not expect them to write a similar check a month or two later," he said. "That just wasn't realistic."
Still, local nonprofits are grateful for the generosity of Las Vegans, and note that donations are still trickling in.
For example, just a couple weeks ago a local teacher returned to her classroom after summer vacation and found she had forgotten to mail a check for $300 raised by her students for the Red Cross. The teacher mailed the check with an apology, Williamson said.
Nonprofits found few incidents of rip-off artists cheating the public by promising donations to charities and instead pocketing the money, Williamson said.
Comparing her donor list to a series of news releases various agencies had sent about fund-raisers to help the local American Red Cross, Williamson said it appeared those groups and individuals followed through with post-event checks.
"However, I remember one group that came into town and sold American flags on street corners claiming they were raising money for the Red Cross," Williamson said. "The police escorted the group to our offices and the head of the group gave us the money they had raised.
"He told us they had looked all over for us. We've been in Las Vegas since 1917, responding to disasters and other community needs. We aren't hard to find."
The Red Cross and other agencies are trying to take lessons from the whole experience to use in the event of another equal disaster.
"All we can do is be prepared," Williamson said.
To that end, the local Red Cross is putting together a program that combines a number of health, safety and survival skills such as CPR and first aid, so more members of the public can be prepared to help those injured in disasters or potential terrorist attacks until paramedics can arrive on scene.
Other agencies say they are working with counterparts in other cities to share resources to help the part of the country that is hit the hardest.
And, with similar generosity of a year ago, the agencies say they will meet whatever needs arise.
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