January 11, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
By ELIZABETH SCHWINN
The number of people asking for food, clothing, and temporary shelter rose sharply in 1999 despite the booming economy, according to a survey by Catholic Charities USA of its more than 1,400 member organizations.
The survey, which was released December 19, found that nearly six million people received emergency aid from local Catholic relief organizations in 1999, up 22 percent from 1998.
A total of 2.9 million people visited the charities’ food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens, an increase of nearly one-third over 1998.
In 1999, 2.3 million people used the charities’ food banks and pantries, while 627,000 visited the soup kitchens.
Ten percent of the local Catholic groups responding to the survey said they saw increases of 40 percent or more in the number of people receiving emergency food services.
The increasing demand for food occurred in every region of the nation and in rural, urban, and suburban areas, the group said.
1% Growth in Income
The rise in demand was not matched by a rise in giving. Income for the charities grew only slightly last year. Over all, cash and in-kind income for local Catholic Charities organizations increased by 1 percent in 1999 to $2.34-billion.
Catholic Charities said the growth in demand for emergency help, coupled with minimal increases in financial support, has forced local affiliates to shift money and staff members away from providing social services such as job counseling and childcare. Roughly 62 percent of the help Catholic Charities provided in 1999 was in the form of emergency aid for food, clothes, shelter, utilities, disaster response, or cash assistance, up from 56 percent the year before.
Meanwhile, social services provided by Catholic Charities organizations reached 3.56 million people last year, down from 3.74 million in 1998. Those services included job counseling, childcare, refugee resettlement, pregnancy and adoption services, in-home care for the sick and elderly, and permanent housing.
Catholic Charities estimated that it helped more than 9.5 million people through either emergency assistance or social services last year.
A full report on the survey will be available soon. Free copies of the abridged version of “Catholic Charities USA 1999 National Survey of Services to Families and Communities,” can be obtained now by contacting the organization at 1731 King Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, Va. 22314; (703) 549-1390, ext. 114. The report is online at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
